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Technology Stocks : IRID - Iridium World Communications IPO Announced! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SoliRA who wrote (1498)	3/31/1999 12:21:00 PM
From: Bill Holtzman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 2693

Talked to Nam Vu of IR today. Here's a synopsis: Q: How many paying subscribers do you have right now? A: Subscriber info to be released April 26. Q: To what area of the market - defense, govt, mining, individuals, etc. - do you attribute the lack of sales most? In other words, how has the market most disappointed you? A: All segments. Q: Why isn't the system tailor-made for the US Govt in order to provide a subscriber nucleus? A: Until officials could actually sit down, use and test the phone, their reaction was unpredictable. I interpret this to mean that not enough ground work was done to determine the govts needs. If you think about their mass-marketing campaign, I believe they were more excited about CEOs and celebrities using it than securing a market. Q: What is the chance that prices will be drastically reduced across-the-board? A: Not sure. Q: What is the game plan if things continue the way they are going? A: Motorola. Q: How will things turn around? A: Sell more phones. Q: Where exactly do the phones work best? A: At the poles of the earth. Since most of the birds' orbits are closer to equatorial than polar, the closer you are to the poles the more you can see. As far as normal use, you must have line of sight, normally to more than one satellite. An airplane would have to be specially wired to allow passengers to use their phone, just like the old Mercedes. Cars, woods, streets between buildings, houses - it just won't work. Q: How long do the batteries last in standby mode (will ring if called and not obstructed)? A: 16 hours. There are extended battery options up to 48 hours. Of course, using the phone depletes the battery faster. Overall, there was no definitive feeling of "we've got a handle on the problems and we're know what to do." He sounded more hopeful that something good would happen.