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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sawtooth who wrote (19096)	12/3/1998 9:39:00 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

The rule over the last several years here is buy in the forties, sell in the mid 50s. If you haven't done that, this stock has been a total dog. There is certainly big possibilities in the next few months with a potential erciy deal in concert with some 3G agreement. What concerns me is the the Q's phones appear to suck. Supposedly the problems are over but it sure seems that they have developed a reputations for lousy quality. As far as the SONY problem goes, it seems to me that its the Qs problem too if only from a perception standpoint. It seems to me too that there is no way in hell that the Q is going to make better phones than Nokia. It'll be interesting to see who outperforms who in the next year. Nokia, LU, qcom. I'll bet they finish in that order. I must be in a bad mood. Caxton

To: Sawtooth who wrote (19096)	12/4/1998 12:41:00 AM
From: JMD	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Tim (aka 'Titanium Gazinkas'), all: report from the front lines by your intrepid observer.....dateline Palo Alto, CA. So into the Sprint PCS store strode the Surfer waving his M.I.T. diploma and demanding a little respect "major, heavy duty Qualcomm shareholder" says I, the 19-something old kid did not appear to be overly impressed with this information though he perhaps just played a very cool game. Sadly, the game was shortly won by him. He didn't beat me on the handset side--I deftly made a bee-line straight for the QCP 2700 shelf, grabbed two @$149.99 each, demanded my $100.00 rebate which he promised would be mailed to me before sometime before the Y2K got serious, and figured my dad's hard earned dollar's invested in his son's MBA was well worth the dough. Pride, as the saying goes, precedes the fall. The kid turned it up a notch as we ambled on over to the accessory zone and soon found myself clutching slim batteries, fat batteries, things to charge batteries through a variety of orifices, cases, and a bunch of other stuff I ain't even unpacked yet. What I can tell you is that the price of the phones had now dimmed to damned near total insignificance. Still, I thought I was holding my own. No way in hell. Saving the best for last, the little fink gingerly opened up the topic of "pricing plans". Hey, I'd done my homework, I'm an informed consumer, so I nailed him with a little CDMA lingo just to let him know that I was nobody to be trifled with. Didn't seem to phase him: this kid was talking the universal language: money [and in an earlier era guys like this used to sell snake oil; it occurs to me that in an earlier age I probably would have bought it too]. "So I see you're buying two phones--heard about our companion pricing offer for only $14.95/month additional?" Bottom line: about $450 (pre-rebate) later, I walked out with a $65/month dealy-bob whereby I get 500 anytime-anywhere minutes for $50 + $15 for what I think means the Surfette gets the same crack at those 500 minutes. So that's like $.13/minute and we can yak our fannies off anywhere in the Sprint world which doesn't sound so terrible UNLESS YOU ROAM IN WHICH CASE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN BIG TIME. "Not to worry', says the reptilian, 'a little "R" pops up on your display so you can keep those calls to a minimum (this said with an ever so engaging grin that made me want to puke). I think he may have seen my eyes glaze over, took pity, and led me over to the 16 year-old sitting behind a good sized machine to get my phones "activated" after I filled out a "few forms" while he sought out his next victim. You gotta understand, the place is mobbed, I figure this month's house payment is in jeopardy, when Lolita wants to know which area codes I want for the two phones. [The SF Bay Area has about a zillion AC's growing by the hour]. What are the price implications I ask, she starts to reply but I am too weak, "pick any two that make you happy sweetcakes, what the hell's the difference?" Into this scene pops a well heeled matron clutching a Consumer's Review and ten other magazines and announces : "I Want a Q Phone". Zing went the strings of my heart, I was back! Lizzard-man replies "We're out" [at this point the kid's life was in danger although he didn't realize it] and I'll be damned if she didn't buy a Motorola StarTac right before my horrified eyes. (I am NOT making this up.) Guys this was not a good day, although if the Q makes its number this quarter, you know where to send the cards and letters. Meanwhile, I have an absolute techno-emergency S.O.S. for engineer: how in god's name do I get the flashing 12:00 off my phone display? Humbled--and way poorer--Surfer Mike