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 : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (21780)	6/6/1999 12:20:00 PM
From: MileHigh	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 93625

Dolby and Bose are more great examples. Let's think collectively on, "What companies market directly to consumers even though they usually sell their products through a multiple distribution channel, i.e., not directly to consumer?" We've got so far: 1- Intel Inside 2- Cisco- "Powering the Internert" (or something like that) 3- Dolby Sound Quality 4- Inktomi ads in magazines 5- Bose sound quality 6- Lucent- builiding the things that make communications better (?) 7- Any more? MileHigh

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (21780)	6/6/1999 1:54:00 PM
From: Dave B	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Zeev, Whoa, you're going way far afield here. I am NOT saying that a company shouldn't build an image. On the contrary, you have to build an image. What we're disagreeing on is whether or not the end-consumer is the primary decision maker on Rambus or not. If they are, then you market the Rambus image to the end-consumer. If they're not, then you market the Rambus image to the entity that is the primary decision maker. My claim is that the consumer is NOT the primary decision maker and that you therefore do not need to put together some glitzy campaign for them. You need to reach the companies that decide to put DRDRAM in their products in the first place. For example, when someone buys a Dell computer, they're buying a Dell computer. They're not buying a Quantum hard drive, an Acme drive cable, an Ampex connector, a Sony floppy, and an Alcoa case. They trust that Dell has evaluated all the vendors and put together the best package that can be had for their price range. Does Dell differentiate itself by saying we have Seagate drives inside? No. They differentiate themselves by trying to provide the best performance at a given price point, and by adding on top of that superior service and support. Not by marketing the individual components. Can Dell differentiate itself by saying "we have Rambus inside"? Not after the first week of shipments because by then Gateway, HP, Compaq, IBM and everyone else will have Rambus inside. The Dell quality/performance name comes from the entire package. I recently bought a Pioneer DVL-91 combination DVD/Laserdisc player. Do you think I care whose memory they put in it? Or whose resistors? Who made the case? Who made the little rubber feet? Not at all. I bought the entire package and the entire package was well rated by the various magazines that look at these products. Pioneer put extra shielding inside the case to prevent stray signals. Do I care who made the shielding? No, just that Pioneer decided that that would make this thing perform even better. If Pioneer put "Acme Resistors Inside" on the front of the unit, I'd just think it looked stupid and it wouldn't mean anything to me and I wouldn't care. But Pioneer has spent a lot of money on making sure that consumers (who ARE the primary consumers) knows what the Pioneer name means, same as Dell has. However, I'll bet that the guys who made the resistors have ads in the electronics journals that say "we have the best damn resistors in the business". Targeted at the Pioneer designers. But not at me. MileHigh is going to build a huge list of company slogans which in the end don't mean much because most of those companies are trying to reach the consumer. Every company needs an image, but it's needs an image for the people who make the decision to use it's product. We're too close to Rambus on this board. 99 44/100's of the people out there buying PCs are not going to have a clue what it means if you put a Rambus sticker on their computer anymore than if you put an Acme Resistors sticker on their computer. Dave