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for friends and subscribers)
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| http://www.gilder.com/ | Issue 299.0/June 15,
2007
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HEADLINES:
- The
Week / The Essential Contributions of Qualcomm
- Friday Feature / Freedom, Not Climate, Is At Risk
- Friday Blogger Bonus / Apocaholics Anonymous
- Readings /
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The
Week / The Essential Contributions of Qualcomm
Gilder
Telecosm Forum member “JM” (6/15/07): I wanted to offer a few comments in response to two recent
Bloomberg articles discussing the BRCM vs. QCOM litigation.
#1. BRCM In Talks With Phone Makers after Ruling:
http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=23623834&srchtxt=bloomberg
#2. Broadcom's McGregor Says He Wants an End to Qualcomm Royalties:
http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=23623831&srchtxt=bloomberg
I’m a long time QCOM shareholder dating back to the 1996/2007 timeframe
and have followed QCOM and the wireless industry very closely to this date.
As you know, BRCM is also a party along with Nokia and several other
companies whose objective is also to disrupt (destroy) QCOM’s business model
which is to a large extent based on royalty revenue from CDMA based handset
sales. Although the major parties to these many actions against QCOM are by far
the world’s current dominant companies in mobile wireless (NOK- #1 handsets and
#2 infrastructure, TXN- #1 chipsets, ERIK- #1 infrastructure and #1 in WCDMA
handsets), they hypocritically are attacking QCOM on the grounds that its
business model is anti-competitive. However, the real reason for their many
concerted attacks against QCOM’s business model is that it fosters more
competition into the wireless market as 3G technologies (CDMA2000 / 3GSM/ UMTS/
WCDMA/ HSDPA) displace sales in their traditional GSM markets. In essence,
these incumbents know they cannot compete in the 3G market against QCOM
technology-wise, so they are using the courts and PR smear campaigns in
attempts to destroy QCOM’s business.
QCOM’s business model has been consistent throughout its 20 plus year
history, with by far the most extensive licensing program in the industry (over
160 companies) on what has always in the past been considered FRAND (Fair,
Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) terms. In fact Nokia, although now it now
publicly and deceitfully claims that it cannot renew its QCOM license because
“things are much different now than when it originally signed its QCOM license
in 1992", it actually renewed its QCOM license (FRANDly) in 2001 (only a
few years prior to initiating its [also BRCM] 2005 EC complaint) after the
WCDMA standard was approved and virtually everything 3G technology wise
deployed today was know then.
QCOM’s business model uses the royalty revenue to fund its extensive
R&D activities that have been essential in the development of all 3G
technologies, and to support their handset and carrier partners in
manufacturing, testing, and network deployments. I seriously doubt that anyone
in the industry believes that the tremendous advancements in wireless
communications could have been achieved without the essential contributions of
Qualcomm.
To read JM’s continued comments on the two Bloomberg articles, log on with
your subscriber password at http://www.gildertech.com/.
To become a GILDER TELECOSM FORUM member, visit:
http://www.gildertech.com/
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Friday Feature / Vaclav Klaus: Freedom, Not
Climate, Is At Risk
We are living in strange times.
One exceptionally warm winter is enough – irrespective of the fact that in the
course of the 20th century the global temperature increased only by 0.6 per
cent – for the environmentalists and their followers to suggest radical
measures to do something about the weather, and to do it right now.
Ask President Klaus
Is climate change just propaganda? Vaclav Klaus will
answer your questions in an online Q&A. Post a query now
In the past year, Al Gore’s so-called “documentary”
film was shown in cinemas worldwide, Britain’s – more or less Tony Blair’s –
Stern report was published, the fourth report of the United Nations’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was put together and the Group of
Eight summit announced ambitions to do something about the weather. Rational
and freedom-loving people have to respond. The dictates of political
correctness are strict and only one permitted truth, not for the first time in
human history, is imposed on us. Everything else is denounced.
The author Michael Crichton stated it clearly: “the
greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality
from fantasy, truth from propaganda”. I feel the same way, because global
warming hysteria has become a prime example of the truth versus propaganda
problem. It requires courage to oppose the “established” truth, although a lot
of people – including top-class scientists – see the issue of climate change
entirely differently. They protest against the arrogance of those who advocate
the global warming hypothesis and relate it to human activities.
As someone who lived under communism for most of his
life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom,
democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism,
not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous
evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.
Read the Complete Article by
Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9deb730a-19ca-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621.html
|
Summer in the Berkshires View
the availability for this beautiful lake-side retreat: |
Friday Blogger Bonus / Karlgaard: Apocaholics Anonymous
Rich Karlgaard (6/14/07): Here is VC alpha dog John Doerr, of Kleiner Perkins
Caufield and Byers, speaking at the TED Conference in March. Doerr's speech is
on green tech.
So far, so good. Who opposes
green tech? I’d love to see cars go twice as far on a gallon of gas without
compromising crash-worthiness. I'd love to fly more than 1,000 nautical miles
on an 81-gallon tank in my Cirrus airplane--800 miles is my limit now. Each
time I go to Asia, I am amazed by hotel energy efficiency. All the lights go
off when you take your key card out of the slot and depart the room. When you
return to your room and reinsert your key in the slot, the lights awaken. Why
can't we do that?
What's not good, and scary,
and maybe even manipulative, is how Doerr begins his talk. Pushing all the
global warming fear buttons, Doerr outdoes his friend Al Gore. Doerr says:
"I don't think we're going to make it." He chokes up while saying
this. There is no mistaking Doerr's words and emotions. He really believes
Earth is headed for irredeemable climatic catastrophe.
I like and admire John
Doerr. His record of VC success is indisputable. What's more, Doerr's
startups--Compaq, Sun, Intuit, Amazon and Google--have brought the world a ton
of good….
What are we to
make of Doerr's "I don't think we're going to make it" comment? If I
didn't know and respect Doerr, I would insert a sarcastic comment here. But
because he's Doerr, and a nice guy as well, I will refrain.
Hear John Doerr’s speech:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/128
Check Out Rich’s Digital Rules Blog:
http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules/
____________________________________
Readings /
The
Weekly GTI
http://www.gtindex.com/
Rudy’s Shot
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/rudys_shot.html
Google To Use YouTube To Amass
Video Database
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6128593
Sprint Might Spin Off WiMax. Does This
Mean Sprint Has Second Thoughts?
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/06/sprint_might_sp.html
Sony To Ship AppleTV Rival In
July
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199904338
Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise
http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/14707
The Man Who Caught A Rising
Tide
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/875f5b66-1370-11dc-9866-000b5df10621.html
Apple Steps Up Browser War
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22555&hed=Apple+Steps+up+Browser+War
Google Powers China’s Sina
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22563&hed=Google+Powers+China%e2%80%99s+Sina
What IT Customers Need To
Know About Private Equity In Tech
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199902818
Ultra-Efficient Photovoltaics
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18910/
__________________________________________
FRIDAY LETTER STAFF
Editor: Mary Collins George / mcollins@gilder.com
Research: Sandy Fleischmann / sfleischmann@gilder.com
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