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Technology Stocks : PointCast IPO -- should be filed by late May -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Francis Gaskins who wrote (22)	5/20/1998 9:11:00 PM
From: michael	Respond to of 33

PointCast IPO a value in disguise? Good article from MSNBC: msnbc.com

To: Francis Gaskins who wrote (22)	5/20/1998 9:34:00 PM
From: Glenn Omura	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33

Wow! Thoughtful comments. Bottom line: PointCast is a bad product. The most important asset any company can have is its customer base. It doesn't have one, apparently, given its 100% churn rate. How can a company be viable if it doesn't have loyal customers. General rule of thumb is that it costs 5x more to get a new customer than maintain an existing one. This suggests that costs to capture new customers will not decline until it can reduce the churn rate. Why does it have such a high churn rate? Apparently, the product does not satisfy the customer. Why is that? Product flaws: technical glitches, space hog, too many ads, what else? I'm another customer who could take it for only about a month. It seems like it might be better suited as a product for dedicated use, much like CNN Airport version. Put it in doctor offices, airports, at checkout lines in grocery stores, at gasoline pumps, anywhere there's a captive market that can be "pushed." Glenn