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

To: DaveMG who wrote (22822)	2/10/1999 2:40:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Better Yet, Anyone Know How To Get In Touch With Frezza?,eom.

To: DaveMG who wrote (22822)	2/10/1999 2:47:00 PM
From: Bux	Respond to of 152472

Bill Frezza did print a retraction. (see below) This retraction was released on April 8, 1997 so it didn't take long for Irwin and crowd to make him eat his words. I don't know how much the capacity of cdma networks has increased in the nearly two years since this was published. CDMA: The Revenge Of The Nerds By Bill Frezza They said it couldn't be done. Actually, I said it couldn't be done--but I had a lot of company. It looks like I was wrong. Nearly a decade since it was first conceptualized as a means to expand the capacity of analog cellular systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital cellular technology has clawed its way to the starting line in the global wireless sweepstakes. Although the lead enjoyed by rival Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technologies--with more than 50 million users worldwide--continues to widen, even the most adamant skeptics have to admit CDMA is here to stay. With the war of the white papers over, the battle has moved to the market. The outcome remains uncertain but, win or lose, the creative energy exhibited by feisty San Diego start-up QUALCOMM to prove its critics wrong is a testament to the motivating force of a powerful vision. The fact that CDMA never delivered on its most aggressive promises was lost in the hoopla of system launches. It finally delivered something, and the evidence is in that this something will not keel over the first time it's loaded up. It is now up to QUALCOMM and its army of licensees to demonstrate that CDMA delivers sufficient competitive advantage to earn a return on the massive investment required to get it off the ground. We've been following the fortunes of the CDMA camp for several years (see "Succumbing to Techno-Seduction," at techweb.cmp.com/nc/ 604/604frezza.html and "CDMA: Blazing a Trail of Broken Dreams," at techweb.cmp.com/nc/706/ 706frezza.html). QUALCOMM's still unmet capacity claims, as well as the incestuous relationship between the analysts and investment bankers that have helped QUALCOMM and its partners raise billions, have provided zesty column fodder. This has fueled a lively debate in the industry and at my online forum where impassioned CDMA advocates have been beating me about the head and shoulders trying to get me to eat my words. (Note that I am dutifully munching a few right here.) Truth be told, now that the arguments have shifted from analyzing suspect technical claims to tracking commercial launches, CDMA does look a lot more promising. Yes, the consensus from operators is that CDMA delivers at best an 8x-to-10x capacity improvement over analog, not the 10x-to-20x still brazenly touted by QUALCOMM. But nobody seems to care that QUALCOMM fibbed a little. CDMA still delivers more capacity than TDMA and, with one notable exception, this capacity has met the prudent expectations of the large network operators. And, yes, thanks to the vexing issue of power-balancing, engineering and installing CDMA systems turned out to be significantly more complex than TDMA. Operators feel that the added up-front effort will be repaid in lower system maintenance costs. Most important, key features that actually matter to users--in particular, voice quality and battery life--have proven to be first rate, particularly since the CDMA community abandoned its inferior first-generation 8-Kbps vocoder. In the final analysis, it is consumer features, as well as the marketing savvy and financial strength of the operators, that will determine who will prosper and who will bleed in head-to-head competition.