EarthVision Newsletter Archive
Back to Archive Home PageSent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Subject: EarthVision Cellular Consumer News! Issue #24 Vol. 2Another issue of the EarthVision Cellular Consumer Newsletter. This newsletter is for the soon to be educated cellular phone user community. If you know of anyone else that may have an interest in our newsletter, make sure to forward them a copy. Now we move forward at Mach II speed!
[Note: This newsletter is delivered Bi Weekly on Wednesday.]
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BIG THREE ONLINE WIRELESS SITES PULL OUT OF CONSUMER MARKET
IMPROVED AND INTERACTIVE NEWSLETTER FOR OUR READERS
ZING WIRELESS - NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT ONE
JAPANESE COMPANY BUYS INTO AT&T WIRELESS
SIEMENS LOOKING AT THIRD PLACE AS CELL PHONE MANUFACTURER
MAJOR WIRELESS COMPANIES BATTLING SHAREHOLDER LAWSUITS
CELL PHONE DISTRACTION RESULTS IN MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES*
GUNS MANUFACTURED TO LOOK LIKE CELL PHONES*
QUICK UPDATE ON CHANGES AT EARTHVISION CELLULAR
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EarthVision Cellular Consumer News Digest Issue # 24 Volume 2
BIG THREE ONLINE WIRELESS SITES PULL OUT OF CONSUMER MARKET
Three major players in the online wireless industry have either pulled out of the market, filed for bankruptcy, or both. So far tsrwireless.com and letstalk.com have filed for bankruptcy, and point.com has pulled out of the consumer market, laid off half of its staff and went to strictly a business to business orientation.
The surprise player to enter the market was Amazon.com who decided they would take a shot at it and that they felt they have the leverage to enter this type of market. There are only two other major players left who stated that they weren't concerned about Amazon.com entering the online market. Only time will tell if that tune will change anytime soon.
It appears as if market oversaturation, aggressive marketing by carriers and superstores offline, and cost of customer acquisition online did these companies in, and the toll has yet to be fully counted. Many more of the unknown online wireless companies have already been dropping off and shrinking the available outlets to consumers to purchase wireless services and products.
We are not implying that EarthVision Cellular will be going anywhere, anytime soon. We are thriving and alive. In fact, we are already working on expanding the company. More about that later.
Amazon.com has claimed that it can do what no other retailer online or offline can do. Give consumers a simultaneous shopping comparison and make money. Then again when you think about it, they have done nothing more than turn an apple to the other side for a different perspective.
Unless they go under and file for bankruptcy too, they may be your last chance at online wireless phone plan comparison shopping. To start they won't have many carriers for you to compare. Some think that Amazon's move is out of desperation to find a product channel that they can call profitable although others have tried and failed.
IMPROVED AND INTERACTIVE NEWSLETTER FOR OUR READERS
We are constantly learning and looking to improve on what we offer to our customers. Starting next year, we will have all newsletters set up for an interactive session among readers and the staff of EarthVision Cellular.
Those topics that are in the forums starting with this issue will be marked by an asterisk next to the headline (*). Our goal is to build a community of educated cell phone users by using the resources available to us.
If you have something on your mind or have an opinion about a specific topic feel free to share it with everyone. The forums may look deserted to some extent but we can tell you that they are definitely haunted by surfers.
Registration for the forums is super easy and requires only a username and password. After that you can get in there and say your piece. We hope that you will take advantage of the forums as a resource and learn from them.
Let us give you a little challenge. The last subscriber to post in the forum is a rotten egg!
If that doesn't grab you we have one more. For every post you place in our forum we will give you a $1 in store credit up to $5 off on your next purchase. We will be waiting to hear from you in the forums!
ZING WIRELESS - NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT ONE
We took the message they sent to us and offered to give them a chance to rebut our article on their service of sending advertisements to cellular phones. The first red flag was when we responded and the email came back saying that it was unable to be delivered but we didn't have to send it again.
So we waited a couple of days and we never got the message again. So it must have been delivered. Since that time we have been patiently waiting on Zing wireless to let us know when they would be available to talk so we could provide you with their rebuttal.
They were obviously upset otherwise they wouldn't have sent us such a strong email. Why they would not respond to our offer to present a rebuttal is somewhat confusing. We even went so far as to make sure not to edit the email message they sent to us so that our readers could draw their own conclusions on the matter.
Now when the mail comes we tend to open each letter very cautiously. For all we know they could be in the process of suing us for being big meanies that presented their service in an unfavorable light. The hazards of journalism but we are willing to take it on. By the way, someone decided to post a message in our forums on their service. It was done in a favorable light, however, they also tried to disguise it as a post although it was definitely spam. Another red flag of what's to come in the future?
JAPANESE COMPANY BUYS INTO AT&T WIRELESS
A Japanese company called NTT DoCoMo just paid 10 billion dollars for a 16% ownership in AT&T wireless, and they have the option to buy another 42 million shares. It was only a matter of time before something like this was to happen. Japan has nearly a 95% penetration rate of the wireless market and the only way to expand was to hit foreign shores. The interesting part is that DoCoMo was looking at Cingular Wireless who is the second largest carrier as a partner but it never came to light.
Here is a breakdown of how the money will be used by AT&T. 6 Billion dollars will go to AT&T Wireless to help it move to a data service network and AT&T Corp will get 4 billion dollars to help pay down its own debt. Both companies badly needed the capital and this had to be done if ATTWS was to have any hope to continue in competing in the wireless market. AT&T wireless now trails at the tail end of the market share spectrum with having the lowest number of subscribers to its service.
Is this a bad thing for consumers? Not really. When you consider that the Japanese have been at the leading edge of wireless technology for some time, this may be our chance in the US to finally see some of that technology coming over here. NTT DoCoMo specializes in wireless data and this puts ATTWS in the running for the wireless data battles about to come in the future.
The other advantage is that at some point it may be AT&T wireless who comes up with the first cell phone that can be used worldwide due to the partnership with DoCoMo. Makes sense when you learn that DoCoMo means "anywhere" in the Japanese language. The question is if American consumers will be ready and willing to adopt the new technology.
That question is brought up because when you look at WAP and the hype that was made about it, the service itself has merely puttered along. We look at the internet service as what we get on our PC computers, and what we have seen on wireless phones just doesn't cut the mustard. The horn blaring on WAP service by providers continues and so do the editorials bashing WAP service as being much too limited to content only and not even coming close to what the hype promised. NTT DoCoMo will have its work cut out.
SIEMENS LOOKING AT THIRD PLACE AS CELL PHONE MANUFACTURER
We haven't heard much from them lately. An FYI on the German company called Siemens. They are not just a cell phone manufacturer. They produce a wide range of products from light equipment to airport baggage equipment to washing machines in addition to wireless phones. In total Siemens is comprised of 22 different businesses.
Motorola still holds first place as having the most cellular phones in use worldwide. Nokia has only taken the 1st place position in the digital cell phone market and has second place for the most phones in use worldwide. Which takes us to third place and who is really trying to pick up your business as a cell phone manufacturer. The current contenders for third place are as follows:
Panasonic from Japan, Siemens from Germany, Samsung and Alcatel from South Korea are also looking to jump into the fray. Ericsson is currently in third place but that could change soon. It looks like Philips just isn't in the running anymore. And of course, Sony quit the US market.
As far as sales, Nokia is currently selling about 33% of the worldwide market, Motorola is second at 15%, and Ericsson is third at 10%. Now we come back to Siemens. Early next year this manufacturer intends to put a new cell phone on the US market. How one phone is going to make the difference we just don't know. Today they (Siemens) are the third largest manufacturer in Western Europe and they want that position to hold true on a global basis.
Things should get very interesting for wireless users next year. Samsung is expected to be very aggressive in trying to pick up sales and market share. New manufacturers are looking to make a play into the market as well. You may not have heard of them yet but they are out there. Don't be surprised if you start seeing some unknown manufacturer names popping up on cell phones. Keep an eye on a company called Kyocera. They were the ones who bought Qualcomm's wireless consumer business.
If you are looking to upgrade to a new phone, we would recommend you wait a few more months. It won't be much longer when you will have more choices than you can count on your fingers and toes. To the manufacturers, we wish them the best of luck.
MAJOR WIRELESS COMPANIES BATTLING SHAREHOLDER LAWSUITS
Let's see, MCI Worldcom, AT&T, Nextel, Lucent Technologies, Brightpoint, AT&T Wireless, and the list can go on and on. In total about 200 companies are being hit with shareholder lawsuits. All of these companies are being sued by their own shareholders. In the case of Worldcom, the infamous CEO Bernie Ebbers sold about 70 million dollars worth of his shares less than a month before they plummeted in value.
Seems the shareholders of Worldcom deemed his actions to be part of insider trading and filed suit. Next we have AT&T and AT&T wireless respectively. AT&T CEO M. Armstrong was accused of painting an unrealistic picture of profits to keep AT&T stock trading above a specific level so that they could push through the AT&T wireless tracking stock IPO during a time when IPOs were being pulled. AT&T wireless was accused of creating a prospectus and registration statement that was misleading and contained omissions of fact.
You may be asking yourself, how does this affect me as a consumer? The answer is higher prices are probably on the horizon. Here is why. First, the cost of litigation for these companies to defend themselves can be of an astronomical amount. Smaller companies have no chance to fight a shareholder lawsuit without going under so they will normally settle out of court with shareholders. Large companies have some insulation against lawsuits and they will make some attempt to fight the lawsuit in the hopes that it will be dismissed. If that fails they too will usually settle out of court with shareholders.
The amounts of these settlements can reach some pretty hefty proportions. The companies have to make up the loss somehow and you can expect it to be passed back to the consumer. Over two thirds of shareholder lawsuits are kept from being dismissed by attorneys representing shareholders.
There are three main reasons why shareholders will sue a publicly traded company. 1) a sudden drop in stock price meaning that the CEO may not be doing his job and/or is hiding something from shareholders, 2) Restatement of accounting meaning that the financial statement presented was not entirely accurate of the company's overall health, and 3) Insider trading meaning someone knew something was up and sold a bunch of stock to cash in before it was too late.
The common denominator among the three reasons is that shareholders believe that something shady is going on. As shareholders they are entitled to be apprised of all material facts regarding the company and it is by law that companies must report to shareholders. There is one word to sum up this entire situation. Greed.
CELL PHONE DISTRACTION RESULTS IN MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES*
An expert from Dynamic Science said that there are 15 million cell phone users on the road at any time, 85% admitting that they sometimes used their phones while driving, and 15% saying they were on their phones all the time.
A 20 year old man was charged with 2 counts of vehicular manslaughter and multiple traffic violations. What made this case so prominent was that the cause of the accident was because the young man was attempting to dial on his cell phone which led to the death of two people.
A family had parked on the side of the road with their two children. One of the children got out of the car to relieve himself in the nearby woods. The driver was attempting to dial his cell phone and when he looked up, he was about 3 feet from impact with the parked car. His car slammed into the back of the parked car and crushed it. The mother and father were killed and the daughter sitting in the back seat survived with injuries.
Experts called to the stand stated that cell phone distraction was equivalent to drunk driving. The summary of the statements included that drivers cannot talk on cell phones and drive because it simply exceeds our capabilities. One expert stated that the common factor among accidents involving preoccupied cell phone users is that the drivers make no attempt to stop the car. In this case, the driver being charged also made no attempt to stop the car.
This was coupled with witness testimony stating that the driver was speeding and drifting through several lanes of the highway. The driver said 55 mph, prosecutors said 80 to 105 mph, a state trooper said 68 mph, and the speedometer of the driver's car was stuck at 95 mph after the crash.
The summary of the case was that the young man was not actually charged with manslaughter and he was convicted of a lesser sentence for negligence. The conflicting testimony regarding the speed of the driver caused the manslaughter charges to be dropped due to lack of proof.
[This article is in our forums for further discussion by our readers. Registration only requires a user name and password to post.]
GUNS MANUFACTURED TO LOOK LIKE CELL PHONES*
Europe has found itself with a unique situation on when to pull out their guns. It has recently been discovered that guns have been disguised to look like digital cellular phones. The guns appear to have been manufactured in Yugoslavia and are now being smuggled into Western Europe.
The first shipment was found in Amsterdam during a police raid in October, and a gun dealer from Croatia was recently busted trying to smuggle a shipment of cell phone guns. The only way to see determine that they aren't really cell phones is by holding them in your hand rather than doing a visual inspection. It was said that experts were involved because they are very sophisticated pieces of equipment built inside a gutted cell phone.
Here is how they work. You twist the phone in half to load the gun. Under the display screen you can put in 4 rounds of a .22 caliber bullet. The bottom half that has the numerical keypad contains the firing pins. To fire you hit the numbers 5, 6, 7, and 8 in rapid succession. The bullets are then discharged through the antenna of the phone.
Law enforcement agencies believe it is only a matter of time before they are found in the US. Criminal elements will have a new weapon at their disposal that will not be readily identified. It will come down to a point where anyone with a cell phone could be considered a threat. So much so that you will now be required to have your cell phone sent through the x-ray machines at airports in the near future.
Before we could just turn on our cell phones in an airport to prove that they were cell phones. Now the gun dealers may change the appearance of the phones to have the display screen light up since they now know authorities will be checking for that.
The real spooky part is when you think about how we bring out our cell phones so that we can make a call. We point the cell phone display screen to face us which puts the phone in a horizontal position. Then we use our thumbs to punch the numerical keypad. You would have no idea that someone even had one of these phones pointed at you.
[This article has also been placed in our forums for your comments and discussion.]
QUICK UPDATE ON CHANGES AT EARTHVISION CELLULAR
We went ahead and put up our cell phone beauty queen for Jan. 2001. Our Feb. cell phone beauty queen has also been selected. We will implement a male contest called the Universal Cell Phone Man in the future. We need to get this one moving before we put in a second one though.
The wireless Handyfax - we had it listed as discontinued and we have now been able to find a supplier for this product again. It has been put back on our list of products available to our customers. If you were looking for one in the past, and we told you we didn't have them anymore, they are here now.
Novelty telephone specials. As of this issue of the newsletter you will have only two more days to take advantage of the offer we have presented. We have been given some room by our manufacturer to reduce pricing for the holiday season. Take advantage of it while you still can.
Expansion of EVC. We are in the process of expanding the company. We are looking to open up a new location here in Omaha, Nebraska, which is obviously subject to negotiation. Our intention is to expand the company into five more states by the end of next year.
As is our custom, this is the final issue for the year. We only send out one issue in the month of December. We hope that you have enjoyed our newsletter for the past year. We will be looking forward to serving you with a another year of news and information. Until next year then.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND ASSOCIATES ABOUT OUR NEWSLETTER. WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE IN MAKING OUR NEWSLETTER A SUCCESS.If you want your name to vanish from our list because our newsletter is just too boring or someone else signed you up, let us know. We will reluctantly take you off of our newsletter list. And we still reserve the right to make faces at you when you aren't looking. If you want your name to vanish from our list because our newsletter is just too boring or someone else signed you up, let us know. We will reluctantly take you off of our newsletter list. And we still reserve the right to make faces at you when you aren't looking.