WM5051
Member
Registered: Apr 2001
Location: California
Posts: 27 |
 The joys of the Internet
As we all know the Internet has given everyone a voice. The question comes down to which voices should you listen to. I prefer my own.
-Financials
AvantGo made their revenue numbers in Q4 2000 and Q1 2001 (when the economic downturn we are in started and several other well established companies missed their revenue projections). They barely missed their numbers in Q2 2001, but they did reduce their costs significantly - a sign of improving business practices. It also means they can last longer on their existing capital (over $50 million) They did have a 15% reductions in workforce (layoff), but that was almost par for the course in today's economy. They claim they are still on track to be profitable on schedule.
All of this information is on their site in their investor section.
-AvantGo Enterprise vs. AvantGo Mobile Internet (AMI) Service
25% of AvantGo's revenue comes from AMI (what we use) and 75% comes from Enterprise Sales (What companies like Ford use internally). I do not think the serevice is going away any time soon. The AMI service has over 3 million registered users. That is many more than Omnisky, Palm.net, YadaYada and Vindigo put together! It is also the largest example of their Enterprise product at work. They make Enterprise sales to users of the AMI product.
All of this information is on their site in their investor section.
-Stock price
YEs this means something, but what? For now, not much. Everyone (mostly) is hurting. Wireless is new and was overhyped. Whoever lasts through the next few months will have the opportunity to make major strides. If you want to worry about someone, look at Omnisky. They closed today at $.55, They are not profitable, they have several lawsuits against them and they are running out of capital. I would not want to be a company looking for additional capital in this market.
-AvantGo Customers
So who are AvantGo cutomers? Well, Ford and other large companies are the enterprise ones. And every site listed on their Web site are the AMI customers. Do they bill them all? No. Are they starting to? Yes. Details on this are harder to find, but it is obvious they are making money somehow from their financial statements. They claim it is from distribution products. The Newsletter they send out to users and other products make them money. And don't forget those banner ads. Affluent, tech savey audiences make up advertisers' dreams. Could they start charging end users? Yes, and judging from the surveys that have gone out (seee other discussion threads on these), they probably will, but if they are smart they will never give up a version of their free product.
All of this information is on their site in their investor section.
-Proxy servers
The AvantGo proxy servers help compress and distribute the content. The proxy servers manage caching and help lower the time it takes a user to sync. Without them your sync servers would take much longer. They also help format the content for OS (Palm vs Pocket PC) and color (grayscale to 16 bit).
This information is in the AvantGo developer's guide.
- AvantGo Advantage
AvantGo touts what they call the Dynamic Mobility Model. This means you can sync and surf.
Take a look a the average user. You have an Internet connection whether it be 'free' (supplied by your employer)or paid for. No one is likely to give that up. Now, by adding their software (free) you get an additional service using a connection you already have. Great. Now you can look at the NY Times on your PDA at a very low cost, if any. I can view that information anywhere regardless of wireless coverage. Parking garages, airplanes, elevators, parks, ANYWHERE. Now, all I need wirless for is small, TIMELY updates. Flight Status, portfolio updates, looking up a phone number. These are where wireless will succeed. With AvantGo and my cell phone I only use 5-15 wireless minutes a month. That cost me $40 for the cable and a fraction of my monthy $35 wireless fee. Omnisky would cost a great deal more for hardware and the monthly service fee for unlimited minutes. Then, I would be wasting money on minutes I do not need.
That is all I really have to say, which was probably too much. I told you I like to listen to myself.
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09-06-2001 06:57 PM
If we keep this up...
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