Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : AT&T -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Palmberg who wrote (1544)	7/2/1998 6:52:00 PM
From: AHM	Respond to of 4298

Thanks - I read the lead story to which you directed me. But I disagree. I have a computer industry background and I am also an IBM and Microsoft marketing partner. I am acquainted with developments in the field - and was stunned by ATA&T's decision to purchase for $50 billion a technology that will be replaced by superior technologies very soon. The following quotation from "Thestreet.com's" publisher says it better than I can. QUOTE: Wrong! Rear Echelon Revelations: Stop the Presses! Cramer Agrees with Jimmy Rogers on T-TCOMA By James J. Cramer 6/26/98 9:59 AM ET I can't believe it myself, but I agree with Jimmy Rogers and his negative comments on the ATT-TCOMA merger made this morning on CNBC. The more I think about this TCOMA-ATT deal, the more I realize how stupid it is. The whole tech world is going away from cable into wireless and phone lines and ATT is spending $50 billion to buy the debt of TCOMA. Jimmy, you are dead right. It is true that Intel (INTC:Nasdaq) et. al have hedged bets and have agreed to work with the cable companies in an episodic sort of way. It is also true that Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq) has made some deals, billion-dollar deals, but that's not a lot for Microsoft, to stay in the cable loop. But cable is not the winner. The Cisco/Intel PC solution for data, voice and ultimately video will be the winner. ATT has neither the infrastructure nor the horsepower to turn that tide. When I heard that T was thinking about buying AOL (AOL:NYSE), I thought, hey, that might be a winner. The Internet is a phone line, not a cable line. (Yes, and I was and am long AOL and am not long TCOMA.) ATT has been completely flummoxed by the Net and doesn't have a clue how to get involved. In one fell swoop they would be getting Case and Pittman, who together understand the consumer and are consumer friendly. If you want to harness the Net, you must figure out a way to make the consumer like it. That's what Case and Pittman do for a living. This is a consumer issue, NOT A TECH ISSUE. The techies will solve the problems of delivery, I promise you. Not Malone. Malone piles on debt. Malone pisses off consumers. Malone stands for anti-consumer, pro-monopoly high-priced anti-technology answers to pro-consumer questions. Malone is an '80s guy, trapped into thinking how many homes he can hoodwink. Innovation? Forget about it. That's why T is going down. Wonder if Robert Allen advised T? And did Milken advise TCOMA? Why this was not clear to T is that Malone has a mystique that has fooled so many people that he shouldn't be allowed to be in a room with someone with a checkbook. And Armstrong had his checkbook at the ready. Five years from now, when T writes this acquisition down to zero, we will realize that cable was a relic, a vestige wiped out by innovations made by Intel and Cisco et. al to harness the copper lines and forcefeed video through to the only device of prominence in your house, your PC/home entertainment center. This merger is a sideshow, a bailout for Malone's debtholders and a bonanza for bankers. Period. Holy cow, Mr. Rogers and I on the same page. Get me wardrobe, on the hop. See if they can rustle up a bow tie. * * * * * END QUOTE