.0014....I guess we all knew that would happen. So typical, the one/two day pop after some bogus PR with the guaranteed sell-off following. Congrats to any that played that move....Condolences to those still thinking that Ike was doing something good.

tvmetguy...I'd probably wait until it's back down to the same level before it had its little 2 day pop, about .0012. It's not far off from that and you'll be able to get a lot more shares per dollar than at .0015. Then again, if the dilution is continuing, you might want to wait until .0008.

tvmetguy....I believe doone is probably referring more to the GOOG system, but either way, which is the point I'm trying to convey, there are definitely safeguards to be had, even if it was a GOOG number or a Go800 Vanity keyword in that your primary number is always protected and the gateway number can always be changed.

American Express had a program similiar to this many years ago where they would allow cardholders to download a completely different card number on a per transaction basis in order to use for online ordering. This would protect the original card number since the one issued by Amex for this purpose would only work for one transaction and then be invalid after its use. It was a great idea to help ward off fraud, but as the web became more secure the need for such diminished, hence them stopping the project. But it's the same basic idea: protect the main number.

wisdum7...well then I'd prefer we give it "free" to every "household." In this manner at least everyone would know about us and then we'd have a user base. But the way it stands now, the companies that we have "given" this to actually have pretty much zero idea that they even have this service provided to them for free, read: at our expense. At least if we give it away free to John Doe, they will know about us.

wisdum7...are we STILL giving this away for free? The lease and the minutes ? Sheesh, someone please tell me that Amazon is a paying client

doone...no safeguard? If a dude texts "Jane" to 46800 and then the guy gets connected to Jane's cellphone, how is there no safeguard? Is her cell number revealed to the caller in some manner that we don't know about? Granted there is no safeguard if the dude's a creep to begin with and the lady finds that out later, but as for protecting the cell number and being able to change the vanity word to eliminate him from contacting her, or enabling the Go800 system to block any given number at the discretion of the Vanity keyword holder, I would think it offers some pretty decent safeguards, as it's a lot better/easier/more desireable to change a vanity word than a cell number.

tvmetguy...that's just one of the many functions we mentioned for the Vanity Keyword concept that we've been pushing here for months, and it's a strong reason to actually have Vanity words for a sort of privacy related issue.

That's why the concept should be broadened to the entire public marketplace for everyone to have the choice to get one. Though Twitter is a great place to try to offer the Vanity Keywords, they aren't really true Vanity Keywords since Ike is requiring them to use their Twitter account name and, imo, THAT IS A HUGE MISTAKE.

Again, I'm glad the concept of Vanity words if finally being embraced, but I'm concerned that it's being implemented incorrectly. Twitter's concept is based on people following what one Tweets about, and not about being contacted by those that want to follow you. I just don't see why a Tweeter would want 10,000 followers to ring up their cell phones. At the very least, let the Twitter users pick their own, non-account-name-related Vanity keyword.

J1720... I would've preferred that the survey didn't include those that contacted Go800 via the keyword text service, as I believe most of us believe that a vast majority of the 206 people are us shareholders that have used it to reach the company. Did the survey distinguish if those surveyed were shareholders? Probably not, but it's highly likely they were, imo.

So of course a large % would be highly satisfied with the concept etc... I am, still.

I would've liked to have seen a survey of corporate execs at F-500 companies or a survey of those that have never heard of us and see what those individuals have to say about the concept even if they've never used it before.

Matter of fact, I'd suggest Ike conduct a survey of only F-500 companies and see what they have to say about the concept, even if never used before by them. Not only would be glean some insight into their thinking, but it would actually serve as a sort of back door way of getting a company to actually consider the idea of leasing a keyword, if any of the execs would say, "Damn, that's a great idea. I never heard of such a concept. It can save us money, make it easier for our clients to reach us, etc." Now that'd be a win-win for us shareholders.

I find this PR, as the others, to be another waste of time/money. How many shares did it dilute us to conduct this "survey?" Like practically every PR released, stock is taking a subsequent hit.

PS. Thanks for the heads-up pm the other day. Can't reply back via pm

kraken....yep, you got it. And how soon we all would forget the issues of the past if Ike was to land but ONE major client for the service, just one !!

Regarding the audited financials, I'm not too optimistic on those, frankly. All I see coming from that is some "rubber stamping" by some never-befor-heard-of accounting firm that states, "we've reviewed the financials of GOIG and find them to be in order, blah blah."

In other words, the deferred revenue, for just one point, won't be clarified at all. The $72,000 "asset" ? What is that? Is that the value of our $ 500,000 (at least) in restricted pinksheet stock for the ticker symbol campaign? Where is that restricted stock listed on our financials? Was it converted into deferred revenue instead?

Think or Swim...Well if it was fairly valued at .015, what would a price of .0017 tell you? But since they only (at this point) have diluted to about double the position since the .06 heyday, then .03 is really the "fairly valued" price. And that makes .0017 look significantly worse.

Granted, this may be your first post here, so perhaps you don't realize that while some of us are critical and harsh at times (plenty of times lately), we've also been plenty constructive with ideas on what the company should be doing or how to implement certain strategies etc.

But there is one clear tone that you seem to miss, and that is of Ike's mgmt of the company. Sure, we have a great product, but if you think Ike has done great things with it, you're incorrect. Ike has destroyed confidence in the company, subsequently raising serious questions about the great concept of Go800 itself. Ike has been ambiguous in just about every press release, he has not fulfilled promises about rev numbers, clients, dates, etc. He has, imo, been handing us a line of bull with the LOIs for Fu...what about the DTSL issue, etc etc etc.

Yet despite all that we still make suggestions to better the company. I just mentioned the possibility of doing a Groupon-type offering the other day.

You see, imo, you've got to be "eyes-open" and call 'em like they are and not just be a rah-rah cheerleader because you think a company has a great product while the mgmt of that company squanders your money.

I've always said I'll be the first to give Ike kudos for landing some big, major client etc, but where are they? 9 months later and what do we have to show for it?

You've got some people out there that think that us posters on the board need to do more than just post on the board. Well, short of working for the company, what more is someone to do if they've invested, told family and friends, encouraged local business to consider the idea, brought forth ideas, made critical assesments, etc etc? We don't need to do anything more than invest and discuss (pos or neg) about the company and it's up to mgmt to bring home the bacon.

tvmetguy...I agree with ya that everyone could use Go800, but not everyone needs it. I'm here because so many companies could use it. There is great potential, yet one has to ask himself, then, why the heck all the missed promises, the missed sales amounts, the missed client target amounts, the missed deals, the faulty deals, the ambiguous PRs, the bs LOIs, etc etc etc? Perhaps, just perhaps, it's not as great an idea as we all think. I hope I'm wrong on that thought, since I've still got money involved. But if things don't start cooking here, then the concern is going to be more worrisome. By the time things do take off, we could already be up to 4 billion shares o/s. That'd be terrible.

Every investor would want a JV with Twitter or GOOG etc, but I'd say you are incorrect saying that Twitter needs GOIG. That's like saying AAPL needs GOIG. Like I said, Twitter but 3 weeks ago secrued 200 million in funding. GOIG isn't even a gnat on their windshield. Twitter will make plenty of money without any help from GOIG.

tvmetguy...so if the drop from .0075 to .0012 was tax loss selling, what was the drop from .06 to .03 caused by? Or how about the drop from .03 to .02, what caused that? And the drop from .02 to .01? Is there an answer for that? What about the drop from .01 to .0075?

Now you must understand that those of us who are the most critical are also extremely proactive and upfront with ideas to better the company.

I was dogged in my months' long dishing about Vanity Keywords (which are finally being implemented in some respect)

I suggested Groupon just recently. (let's hope it doesn't take months for that idea to finally come to fruition on the heels of yet another failed deal by Ike)

You can't just be blind to what has been going on with Ike and GOIG. We all know it's a great concept or we wouldn't be here, but Ike has managed it terribly so far. Give me direct/critical/honest assesments of company progress by any poster and I'll take that all day long over unfounded gushing about a company.

tvmetguy...There is no way Twitter is going to allow GOIG to access their full client list, much less a JV. No way whatsoever that Twitter is going to give some little ol' pinksheet company access to such. Do you have any idea the outrage that would make to Twitter account holders? It would backfire on GOIG and Twitter quicker than you can say "bankruptcy."

It doesn't take anything but a confirming email by GOIG sent to the account holder themselves to confirm such info, but if you think Twitter is going to allow GOIG full access, you are extremely incorrect.

Like I said, we all appreciate optimism, but this is just reaching far beyond such and almost sounds like paid pumping.

tvmetguy...we've all known this info and the like since April of 2010. You'r late to the party, but thanks anyway for posting old news. What's sad here is that with all that potential, what do we have to show for it? Zip. That's right, Zip. Our share count has practically doubled, we have numerous LOIs that have failed or in the process of failure imo. We have no major client. We have almost constant confusing/unclear PRs by Ike, etc etc.

It's a great concept we have, but Ike has squandered every chance so far.

tvmetguy... Huh ? You respond to me questioning you about the validity of a JV by asking if I've emailed Twitter for info on it and then you say you didn't get the info from Twitter... but by methods of conjecture and wild extrapolation you say you've pieced it together from a source not related to Twitter or even GOIG? Sheesh, you're a piece of work with that. And I see you're responding in like fashion asking others if they've emailed Twitter when questioning you about the JV. I've spoken with Twitter twice and a JV of any sorts (even minimal involvement with GOIG) is not something they said they are doing based on GOIG's PR about the matter.

Listen, dude, we all appreciate optimism and hope, but do yourself a favor and don't turn your guesswork into fact. That's called wishful thinking.

A JV with Twitter isn't happening, not now, and perhaps not ever. So make sure from now on you start your statements with something like, "I hope there's a JV with Twitter because I think....", or "I'm guessing there's a JV with Twitter because Ike most likely wouldn't say antying about Twittter unless the possibility...."

Okay, this lesson is over.

tvmetguy...nope, didn't email them. I called them twice (Nov 30, 2010 and Dec 9, 2010) and got ZERO verification that there is any deal or JV between GOIG and them. Now if you have an email address of a contact there that I can send something to them, let me know.

Simpler and better yet, why don't you just post your email and to whom you sent it as well as their reply so that we can see exactly what was asked by you and verified by them. We could then independently verify what you seem to claim as real. After all, if they've confirmed something to you, they'd confirm it to others, right?

We're waiting....

At my post limit, so I'll respond to ya later. Can't wait to see that Twitter email response !!

tvmetguy...no need to argue with you, I'm only stating facts. And the facts are this:

1) Ike has not made any direct mention about any JV with Twitter and it'd be foolish based on Ike's past to think otherwise.

2) Twitter has not made any direct mention about any JV with GOIG.

3) You didn't answer the DTSL issue posed to you, as that is an example of an even more direct involvement with a company than what Ike has said about Twitter and we know exactly what happened with DTSL and that JV.

What I'm saying is that you'd better beware and very cautious basing your purchases on what you think Ike means when he says, or in this case hasn't said, about what he's doing.

Looks like the share price decline has already started....that was expected.....right on time....right on cue.

tvmetguy...let's try to break down this Nov 29 2010 release quote:

A social media campaign to inform 175 million Twitter users is in the works. The updated GO800 platform when launched will connect with Twitter for user verification and sharing of invites to the GO800 service among Twitter users.

A social media campaign to inform 175 million Twitter users is in the works...[/i]More than anything else, that sounds like hiring some PR/adv company to get word out to Twitter users instead of being directly involved with in a JV with Twitter.

The updated GO800 platform when launched will connect with Twitter for user verification...[/i]That could go either way:
1) Connect with Twitter could simply mean contacting the Twitter user for verification, in the same way we "connect" with someone buying something from our company by sending them an email with "REPLY" questions involved to confirm they are who they are and that they placed an order etc
2) Connect with Twitter could mean that Twitter will allow/confirm to GOIG user information.

boss1953...I've always thought the concept was incredible and still do or would never have invested. My only concern is that ripe fruit can only stay on the tree for a specific period of time before it goes rotten, so to say.

tvmetguy... Ike used similiar jargon when "promoting" the DTSL debacle, I mean "deal," and we all know what happened there. All I'm saying is if Ike was in such advanced stages with Twitter as to announce that, basically, they are linking up, then there would've been a PR about a JV by both companies. So when it comes to Ike, I'll believe it when I see it and until then it is most likely not a real JV at all.

yoyomama...and does Twitter really need Go800 to multiply their value? They just got 200 million in funding 3 weeks ago. Now if GOIG wants to buy adspace on Twitter's site, I'm sure Twitter will accept our money, but I just don't see any info anywhere saying that Twitter and GOIG are in any sort of JV.

boss1953...but I think it's clear that Ike does not have anything inked with Twitter and to say that Ike might land a JV after he announces a promo is putting the cart before the horse. The way it stands now is like mentioning an LOI with Twitter but not actually having to have Twitter even be aware of the offering.

I agree with ya if there was actually a JV with Twitter. Heck, the day that is announced is the day that this stock goes from .002 to .05 imo. But we all know Ikes m.o. and it doesn't bode well, so far anyway.

yoyomama...precise and to the point as always....and witty too !!

tvmetguy...that would be an interesting question to try and answer, but the more important question is this: Where does it say anyhere in any PR from any company that Twitter is allowing Go800 to do a promotion on the Twitter website?

It doesn't say it anywhere I have looked. Do you see it anywhere? If so, let us know, as that'd be great news to be aware of.

GROUPON....Here's an idea (not sure if mentioned before).....
GROUPON

Why don't we have Ike offer a Groupon or Living Social deal to their subscribers for vanity keywords? That might bring a nice influx of immediate cash.

It can perhaps be for a one year lease of a vanity word with 50 free minutes per month.

tvmetguy...I agree with ya on that. I've been the most ardent promoter/supporter of the vanity keyword approach for many months now. It just has to be implemented properly imo. This is no slam dunk, but it does have some potential.

tvmetguy...not so fast on the "JV" with Twitter. There is no indication whatsoever that this is a joint venture with Twitter. Twitter has said nothing about it and Ike has said nothing about it either.

doone...the 90 day promo being discussed is the Twitter promo. The twitter promo is targeted, per Ike, to consumers/individuals in order to build up a user base so as to attract business clients. Granted, there are businesses that use Twitter that could sign on if they wanted to, but I don't see how businesses would be enticed to sign up via Twitter when they haven't signed up prior.

We gave away free minutes for the last 8 months of 2010 and that got us nothing. I'm sure we had plans for 3 months of gratis lease for a business signing a year or more lease. The promos were there last year and it really didn't get us anything.

For the most part, businesses will still have zero idea/interest in us unless Twitter itself is involved somehow and sends out a Tweet to every business account in their registry. That's been a concern of mine from the get-go as well for the consumer accounts in Twitter, as how are they gonna know about it either?

I like the idea of Vanity Keywords (duh) for Twitter users, but it should be available to anyone with/without a Twitter account and it should be available WITHOUT HAVING TO USE THEIR TWITTER ACCOUNT NAME. This could pay off big, and I hope it does, but if it isn't done right, then it's gonna hurt again for quite some time.

Audited Financials...
Can't wait for THAT to come out !! Sadly, it's probably going to contain no explanation whatsoever about the "deferred revenue" we all know/suspect is Ike's fanciful accounting of the restricted stock. After all, if it wasn't, then WHERE IN THE FINANCIALS IS THE RESTRICTED STOCK WE SUPPOSEDLY GOT !!?? Don't see that "asset" anywhere unless it's the $72,000 listed as "marketable securities." And if that's the case, then we've really taken a bath, as each one of those companies paying for the ticker service was supposed to have paid at least $25,000 in restricted stock for the service. That'd mean $500,000 dollars in restricted stock. Is that value now at only $72,000? Or, conversely, has the value shot up to about $1.5 million and listed as deferred revenue? It's all too unclear. What's clear to me is that NO COMPANY OR COMPANIES are gonna pony up huge amounts of cash to a run-of-the-mill pinksheet company for undelivered services.

The "audited" financials are probably just gonna have some "stamp of approval" on it stating that it was "reviewed" by "x" firm. (Don't expect it to be from KPMG or one of their ilk).

So 3 important things we need are:
1) An explanation of the "deferred revenue" numbers
2) An explanation of the $ 72,000 asset
3) An explanation of what cash paying clients we have, if any
Anyone expect that we'll get that clarified when the "audited" financials are released?

Oh well, I guess "we can always do more as shareholders," right?

Ernimax....not sure, but if it was GOIG selling shares and the total volume for the last 2 days was 70% GOIG selling, then that coulda raised at least 250,000 bucks for Ikey. That'd cover a big chunk of his yearly salary right there, not to mention some other expenses. I think we all know that the company needs cash and the only way it's gonna get it is by selling shares, unless a real cash paying big client shows up. The o/s went fro about 1.4 billion to about 2 billion in real short order during the last few months of the year and I doubt there's gonna be abatement of that any time soon, again, save for a huge client or some consistent revenue.

00144...It may indeed get off the ground and catch on over in China, but my concern is that it can be done so without GOIG being involved at all. What if the Fu deal (and I've questioned the legitimacy of it from the get-go) is just some ploy by Fu, let alone the ploy by Ike imo, to string GOIG along and glean a few inside secrets/ideas and then go it alone in China without GOIG and the Go800 concept ?

Is that far fetched? China is the land of the knock-off, the pirated dvd/cd, pirated software, fake Gucci bags etc etc etc, not to mention jailbroken iPhones and other gadgets.

With no patent protection in China (and who knows how enforceable existing patents in China are anyway) GOIG might just be left out to dry.

Like I've said before, GOIG is an easy company/concept to understand and figure out from a financial perspective: Little to no revenue, one major product, etc. It would never have taken this long for anyone to have done the required DD for such a puny investment in a puny company. IMO, the Fu deal is a sham. I would say that in late Feb or Mar that Ike will state that Fu is still interested etc etc. Heck, pretty soon June 2011 will be here and we will wind up lapping ourselves on this Fu deal.

Jade2010... Agree with ya that no one wants to invest in a sinking ship, but it is hard to determine, then, what is taking Fu so long to decide. The fact he hasn't signed on yet is more proof that he thinks GOIG ACTUALLY IS a sinking ship and that eventually Ike will just come out and say the deal is off (if it was ever on to even begin with).

Fu was already sold on the concept according to Ike, and that's why he was supposed to invest by June 2010. What happened then? Then it was by December. What happened in December? Now another delay. Imo, the deal will never happen. I'd like to be proven wrong and that we get a loan from Fu instead of giving away chunks of the company, but odds are it was a sham to begin with and there will never be any money from Fu.

What smells here is that GOIG has no patent pending in China, so what the heck is stopping Fu from initiating the concept on his own over there? Nothing....and it would only take a month or so to get the concept rolling over there. Whether or not there's a market for it is to be determined. Let's hope the USA and Canada aren't a harbinger of such. That's why I think the whole LOI with him is a crock. I just don't see Fu would have to give us anything if all he was interested in was China.

Likewise, best to you in '11 with your investments.

Jade2010... I just can't help but be pessimistic about the Fu deal when Ike goes on some random website (most likely another one of those "paid" interviews) and dishes about the Go800 concept yet again. To me it smacks of trying to lure in new/unsuspecting investors to sell more stock to. However, I do like the fact that Ike mentioned, with specificity, that Vanity Keywords in China would be an approach, if not the main approach, going in.

Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT really want the Fu deal to go through because I can't help but think that we are going to give up such a huge amount of the company in some respects, unless it was a loan and not an investment for stock. I'd be all for a loan from Fu. That being said, why didn't Ike give a PR to us in general or do a monday voice update and let us know about the Fu deal?

Of course "it's still going on" because it hasn't been outright canceled by Fu. Yet it's been going on for how long now? Plenty. It's was supposed to be done around June, then December....now who knows? We are a company with limited to no revenue, a simple yet gerat concept product. What is so hard to figure out by someone with 5 mill to invest/loan? Let's hope he's not thinking that he can wait and buy us out of bankruptcy court, as that would be in none of us shareholder's interests.

kraken... the financials were a disaster imo. Yet we all more or less expected such. What was an interesting part about it was the "deferred revenue" listing. This has clearly got to raise red flags all over the place. Deferred revenue, in and of itself, is actually a liability until it is realized. I just can't help but feel that the deferred part is just another way for Ike to gloss over the restricted shares. After all, did anyone see the restricted shares listed anywhere on the financials? Isn't it just possible, actually probable imo, that those restricted shares for the ticker symbols are in fact the deferred "revenue?" Can't wait to see those "audited" numbers !!

Yet why the huge gain today? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that since the financials were released and it confirms what we already knew (that our position overall relating to sales/losses/shares is absolutely horrible), that the "bad" news is behind us. Now, perhaps, people are looking forward to the vanity concept via the Twitter offer. I don't know, but we've all seen these run ups in GOIG without anything of positive significance listed/released, only to see the price tail off the few days after such gains.

We can only hope there is more to the situation than this one day burst upward. In the interim, I told a buddy of mine to sell 1/2 of the 6 mill shares he bought recently so now he's got 3 mill shares at an almost free price. Plenty of opportunity for him to make a killing if the share price continues to rise. Let's hope it rises even more so that those of us with higher avg can also make a little extra.

TinaG..."Get involved?" What are you talking about? When someone does all that I've listed and you state "get involved," the only thing left would be to go work for the company and go out and find willing takers of the product. Let's not forget that "the game" I was playing about Vanity Keywords is now finally being adopted by the company.

stevesox... the only thing I can think that's pushing it up is the interest building up for the vanity keyword launch regarding Twitter. Then again, maybe a big client has signed on and will be announced...we can hope. Let's just hope it's not short-lived.

Vanity Keyword Twitter Approach....

It seems like much is starting to ride on the concept above. I have stated before, so I will state again, that a couple of very critical things need to be considered:

1) Give Twitter users the option of picking their own vanity keyword that IS NOT THE SAME as their account name. Great caution needs to be exercised here by Ike. Twitter is not about being contacted, per se, but about be FOLLOWED. People tweet to give bursts of info to their followers. It's not meant to be used as a way for followers to contact the tweeters. If anyone thinks that "x" famous person or ordinary Joe wants those that are FOLLOWING him to all of a sudden begin calling their cellphone, I believe that is a terribly wrong call, so to say.

2) I am hoping beyond hope that this involves Twitter directly, though none of that has been clarified at all as far as I recall. A PR stating such, imo, is going to have little to no effect with Twitter users.

Strangely, this is eerily familiar to when the whole Go800 thing started and we had "3000 registered" keywords. Everyone was salivating...only to get cotton mouth real quick when it was apparent that "registered" didn't mean "sold." Granted, we had an incredible run up, lightning quick, only to be let down just as quickly and then have a huge, slow, painful drawn out downward spiral. It would be great for another run up to .06+, as I'd unload some, but would it be sustainable or would the same thing as last year happen? Well that's the dilemma, ain't it ?

stevesox... True.

No one needs to do anything other than invest if they so choose to because they believe the concept will make them money. When one goes further and has comments positive or negative to either help the company or constructively criticize it, so be it. When one mentions the company to family/friends/associates so as to spread the word about the company and increase investment/exposure, all the better.

I would say that the above description describes practically all of the people on this board as well as a good 99+% of the general investing public.

What really shows a lot of hubris, and lack of understanding, is when one comes out stating things like, "If only people would do more than just sit on the boards all day....." makes me wonder what such a person expects from an investor. What do they want, everyone to be an employee of the company? What needs to be understood is that the company has to make it work, not the investors in the company. We invest in the company because we believe in the concept AND the company. What more are we expected to do than what's listed above?

Heck, when many of us even post things that should be done to get the company going, we get a barrage of criticism from, who else, those that are supposed to be actually involved with the company itself, amongst others.

I know about such first hand because of my relentless months-long push for the Vanity Keyword concept. Certainly got some very positive input from some, and then some relentless negativity from others. Oddly, the negativity seemed to come from those involved directly with the company. Then whaddya know, the company finally adopts the idea (though I still have concerns about its plan/execution of such).

TinaG... I had listed what most of us do (see post 116079) : we invest, we comment, we give ideas, we spread the word etc... What else do you want an investor to do, move into GOIG headquarters to get the point across?

Before anyone gets too excited about "deferred revenue" you all need to know what it really means. You don't have to take my word for it, so I've listed the def as given by investopedia.

As I stated before, it is very possible that the deferred revenue is the restricted shares. Yet it isn't clear at all per the financials. Will this be clarified in the "audited" version we're supposed to be getting shortly? Who knows! If it was actual cash paying clients, wouldn't Ike have already mentioned such? Who knows?

And if the deferred revenue is true to the definition listed below, then we haven't even delivered our product to client yet client has paid for it? I don't really buy it. And of course along with the definition is a little thing about something going wrong with the product and then the money is at risk (another way of giving an easy out for money that doesn't ever materialize).

Investopedia:
What Does Deferred Revenue Mean?
A liability account used to collect deposits and other cash receipts prior to the completion of the sale.

Deferred revenue is important because it's the money a company collects before it actually delivers a product. For example, a software company sells and receives payment for a computer program before it gets delivered or installed. This doesn't get recorded as straight revenue because, if something goes wrong with the job, the money is at risk.