Hi Everyone,
First time poster, long time observer and like your good selves, a long term and increasingly frustrated SMME investor.
I have an interesting thought to raise. Anyone know if there was an SMME presence at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona last week? I'm sure intelligent investors such as y'all would have heard of it. But if not, it is the world's premier mobile industry conference and attracts some serious heavy hitters from both Telcos and Silicon Valley. Major Telcos, with the clear exception of Apple, use it to show off their new toys (e.g. Samsung unveiled their new S5...which looks really impressive).
Anyway, couldn't help but notice the comment on the conference website's 'About Us' section. Pay attention to the middle of the sentence:
"Mobile is transforming communication, advancing the next payment system that alters commerce, and expanding ways in which we interact."
Some interesting statistics about last year's event (per the website) were as follows:
- More than 72,000 attendees
- More than 4,300 CEOs in attendance
- Nearly 1,700 exhibitors utilising 94,000 net square metres of exhibition and business meeting space
- 3,400+ press members representing 1,500 media outlets from 79 countries
I appreciate management, according to the numerous press releases, are working hard towards launching the products, but attendance at such events seems like a bit of a no brainer. I daresay a selection of Private Equity and VC heavies were also in attendance at this conference. All well and good pumping out press releases on a monthly basis but this seems like the ideal opportunity to get the product in the face of what is likely to be one of SMME's key target markets. My impression, as many of you have highlighted, is that the sheer volume of press releases is driving a serious credibility issue in the eyes of the market. And unless I'm missing something, i.e. maybe Chaya has been given legal advice to keep her head down until the legal case is resolved, getting in front of potential customers is a far better way to approach.
There was also an interesting, albeit particularly worrying article in the Sydney Morning Herald this past week about mobile payment systems. There was not one single reference to SMME amongst the companies mentioned.
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/paypal-says-samsung-fingerprint-payments-very-secure-20140227-hve02.html
I'm trying to remain optimistic about this investment, but time appears to be of the essence and am really starting to question the advice being provided to SMME from both a strategic and PR perspective.
All the best.