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I believe the most money to be made in the technology sector is to buy into the emerging technologies, the waves of the future. The Intels, Microsofts and Netscapes have already run most of their course. One emerging technology that can make investors a bundle will likely be: SMART CARD TECHNOLOGY You have probably heard of this. It involves a credit card with a tiny chip inside it that can store data and programs. I believe this is destined to replace the credit card, the debit card and cash in the very near future. There are many advantages to the smart card that benefit consumers and the banking and retail industry. It is simply a win win situation all the way around. The system is in use in several places/countries and there has been many pilot tests in North America. Retailers report it is fast, convenient and secure and has gone very well such that a national rollout in Canada will begin in late 1998. Clients are issued a preprogrammed smartcard. The smartcard can be loaded with funds from any of the financial facilities available to the cardholder that we have today. Once loaded/authorized it is equivalent to cash and when used the merchant is effectively offered cash for all transactions which does not require signatures, verifications, authorization, concern about hot cards, fraudulent notes or credit terms. The smart card enables you to load money on it from a bank machine, a special phone or your home computer. It is just like going to the bank machine and getting cash to stuff in your wallet. You can choose how much to get and how often. You then use your smart card just like cash. Once funds have been loaded, the smartcard is offered to a merchant and the transaction takes on a point of sale (POS) terminal which will transfer the value from one card to the other. The advantages of the smart card are too numerous to mention here: More info can be found at sentex.net You can use it for small purchases such as a pack of gum, cab fair or a movie ticket. If your card is lost or stolen it is just like loosing $20 or what ever amount is still on the card, but it won't get used and your card may even be returned. A replacement card can be issued the next day with your remaining funds still on it. The card can be locked and without the PIN/password number is useless. Entering the wrong PIN number three times and the chip in the card will self destruct just like 'Mission Impossible'. It is a preferred choice for transactions of $10 or less which add up to about $75 billion a year in Canada The pure smart card play and who is a leader in this technology is: Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc NUEP on Nasdaq Bulletin Board Price Range $1.62 to $18 Currently around $12 Shares Outstanding approx. 7 million Fully Diluted less than 9 million Management/Insiders approx 65% This company is virtually undiscovered yet and you will find little information other than the above website. They just went public around the beginning of October and have not even put out a news release yet, but some major ones I believe are on the way Net 1 is an American, based company with powerful backing behind it. More about this should become known in a couple months. Net 1's management has already proved itself and it's technology. The company was formed in South Africa in 1989 and since has been developing and perfecting this technology, referred to as UEPS (universal electronic payment system) and is compatible with all banking systems worldwide. Net 1 has secured patents on the technology around the world The technology was developed by Messrs Serge Belamant and Andre Mansvelt in South Africa who have a broad range of experience in research, financial planning, large project admin., banking and all forms of data processing. As a result of world wide interest in UEPS, Net 1 plans to commercialize the technology on a wide scale by developing strategic alliances with national and international banks and card service organizations. They currently have an agreement with Gemplus the worlds largest smart card manufacturer You might have heard about Mondex, Visa and Exact Card here in North America. Net One has superior technology and these companies would have to infringe on patents to compete with Net 1. Mondex has already approached Net 1 to buy an interest along with many others in the financial and smart card industry. Simply put from what I can find out, everyone wants a piece of this company, but they likely won't get it. I expect Net 1 to dominate in this market Net 1 has been in South Africa since 1989, perfecting this technology in a real market place. Their system has run with out a glitch there since 1992. The system is state of the art and the whole operation in South Africa is run by four employees. The software or programming is all on the chip in the smart card. Transactions are taken throughout the day and uploaded to main frame computers once a day for processing. This is a perfect solution for all the 3rd world countries and developing nations who do not want the big expense of the online system in North America. Net 1 is already leaps and bounds ahead of its competition. They have the S. African market as a model and are already expanding into other African countries. Net 1 currently has about 70% of the Russia market and their system is also in use at major financial institutions in Nambia, Botswana, Australia and Poland. They are currently making inroads into most of the major countries around the world The company can generate revenue from sales of all the hardware, software licensing fees and the best of all is one red cent from every transaction. It is hard to fathom the amount of pennies that would add up from the millions of retail transactions everyday in a good sized country, let alone several countries. Net 1 expects that revenue would be approx US$50 million in their first year of operation. I expect the companies business plan will proceed along the lines they expect and these revenues would balloon in no time at all. Net 1 is one of the most extraordinary investment opportunities I have ever come across. There will be a lot more information come out in the next few months to support this and as this happens the investment community will catch on how huge and successful this company will be. I see Net 1 as a long term play and should be held for about two to three years as the company implements their business plan and technology. On top of this they will be riding a boom in the smart card industry. During this period of time, I expect the stock will split a couple times as the company grows and dominates this particular industry. This could easily become another Intel or Microsoft For more information, contact David Anthony or Randy Saunders 604-669-2624 | ||||||||||||||
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