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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jim kelley who wrote (54836)	3/25/1999 3:19:00 PM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

jim: You support most of your negative comments on CPQ and most of your positive remarks on DELL by reference to IDC market surveys. You urge us to accept them as objective evidence. What happened ? This is what your wrote on the DELL Thread today. ____________________________________________________ To: Gabriel Dubois (111563 ) From: jim kelley Thursday, Mar 25 1999 2:58PM ET Reply # of 112308 Gabriel, The IDC report was not very illuminating. In fact it was a disappointment. For the money they are asking for their reports I would hope for better documented research and better interpretation. The report looks like it was written by someone with less than a adequate command of English and a shortage of IQ points. It adds no light to the DELL situation this quarter. It also looks dead wrong with respect to CPQ and possibly GTW. Regards, Jim Kelley

To: jim kelley who wrote (54836)	3/25/1999 3:25:00 PM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Scroll down for highlighted mention of COMPAQ in article about explodng internet use in China, role of set-top boxes (was this posted yesterday by helpinout?) __________________________________________ Revenues From Chinese E-commerce Expected to Explode March 25, 1999 10:13 AM NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1999-- New York-based Asia Media Communications Leads Market -- Announces 100% Quarterly Growth China may well represent the largest growth potential for major e-commerce companies such as Asia Media Communications ASMCD . The number of Chinese Internet users is skyrocketing, estimated to grow from 2 million in 1999 to as many as 10 million next year (MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, Forbes 3/8/99). International Data Corp. predicts that the worldwide Internet set-top box market is also expanding rapidly, especially in Asia where people may not be able to buy a computer but can afford a set-top box for their TV. In addition, China has recently become increasingly liberal towards e-commerce initiatives, thus supporting this potential hypergrowth. Today, Asia Media Communications Ltd.'s MyWeb business unit ASMCD announced that the e-commerce volume in its MyWeb Online Service Web portal has grown by more than 100% this quarter. For example, the recently launched site with Unilever UL has generated almost $500,000 worth of sales in its third month of operations alone. MyWeb expects this trend to continue due to its emphasis on competitive prices. With a very modest 30% quarterly growth projection, MyWeb will easily reach the $1 million per month level from consumer goods alone in 1999. Most of MyWeb's e-commerce revenues come from transaction-based commission from its merchants. MyWeb has attracted many major online advertisers as well, including United Pictures, Hewlett-Packard HWP and Clinique. "Increased Internet usage, the explosion of the Asian set-top market, liberal attitudes towards e-commerce and rapid growth in the number of our licensees -- local ISPs (Internet Service Providers) -- will all feed off of each other and fuel our exponential growth," explains T.S. Wong, CEO of New York-based Asia Media. "The opportunities for e-commerce in the emerging markets arise from the inefficiencies in the traditional distribution system. E-commerce will bring products to consumers at a discount compared to traditional stores. This will be the main drive to the expected explosive growth," continues Wong. When Beijing Book Centre Online -- China's version of Amazon.com AMZN or Barnesandnoble.com BKS -- opened its virtual doors two weeks ago, Lin Wenyi, vice mayor of Beijing, declared the event as the launch of a project which will turn Beijing into an e-commerce capital. According to China Daily, the president and CEO of Compaq CPQ , Eckhard Pfeiffer, stated that he was impressed by government support for developing e-commerce in Beijing. While the majority of MyWeb's e-commerce volume comes from other Asian countries, China represents its most significant growth potential. Within the next three months, MyWeb will also launch its own e-commerce focused online service localized for the Chinese market. There is a strong underlying demand for Chinese e-commerce sites. Last year, China Economic Times reported that 45.5% of Chinese users complained there was not enough Chinese-language material on the Internet. Unlike in the U.S., Chinese Internet surfers often represent the richest percent of the population, and may thus have significant purchasing power. "The core of Internet users has shifted lately from academics to urban professionals and businesspeople. Even if 10 million Chinese surfers hit the Web next year, it still represents less than 1% of China's population. But they will probably be the richest citizens," states Mr. Wong. MyWeb produces a set-top box system similar to Microsoft's MSFT WebTV, that allows customers to use their television set to connect to the Internet. MyWeb is clearly positioned as the market leader in many Southeast Asian markets. Its strongest markets include Hong Kong, Singapore and China, as well as Malaysia, where it has practically a 100% market share. MyWeb has a Web portal, MyWeb Online Service, in every market where it operates. The portal's e-commerce functionality resembles that of iMall IMAL , Yahoo's shopping section YHOO and SkyMall SKYM . MyWeb's online service has approximately 1.5 million unique visitors per month. This is more than the fastest-growing e-commerce site, Macys.com FD , Internet auction site, Ubid.com UBID or automobile portal, Autoweb.com AWEB , received in December. That number is almost one third of the number of hits that MSNBC -- Microsoft's joint venture with NBC GE -- received in January. MyWeb has a base of 15,000 set-top boxes in the Asian market, and expects over 100,000 more to be sold this year. That would be more than twice the amount that WebTV had in the market when it was purchased by Microsoft in 1997 for $425 million. Yesterday, ASMCD (MyWeb) had a market cap of only $143 million.