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Cassie, What gives you the impression that "jtdiii: Have you noticed that you and trillium are the only people on the agora board who will admit that it is even a remote possibility that e.Digital is not involved with Wencor's embedded digesystem?"
I never said anything to give that impression.
I resent the fabrication not to mention the distortions of fact.
Also, Maycom has been producing the digEplayer up until now. I doubt that eDigital would change their manufacturer. Maycom was Atul's former employer. You actually sound desparate.
Don't expect me to respond in the future.
Larry
According to Robert:
In a conversation I had yesterday with Robert I asked how many employees EDIG currently
had. He said "32 plus 5 part time with 3 being recruited." Thats 3 more than the 29 last
reported and soon more than double what it was when I first invested.
I spoke with Ron last night.
Ron's home from the hospital but spent most of the day in a doctors office. He's lost some
weight and feels very weak after undergoing the surgery. He hasn't made the commute to the
basement where his computer is and probably won't for a while. He'll be taking antibiotics for
the next month on IV and medication to help his heart resume a normal rhythm. The doctors
informed him he'll have about a 3 month recovery period before he feels his old self.
I bought a $50.00 gift certificate to a local chinese restaurant yesterday and collected enough
for a gift certificate to the local "Outback" which I'll do tomorrow. Anyone still wishing to
contribute toward the gift certificates can do so by contacting me and pledging (suggesting
$5.00) at trillium@ncia.net Deadline this afternoon at 4PM. Thanks, Larry
Ron and interest in contributing to the dinners:
Several people have expressed an interest in contributing toward the dinners I'm
arranging for Ron and his family. I collected $185.00 a couple of weeks ago and the
flowers and balloons came to about $125.00, leaving $65.00 that will go for meals at a
local restaurant. Gina gave me three restaurant names in their home town where they
enjoy going.
Today I will call one and begin the process with a $50.00 gift certificate. Those that
have expressed an interest in contributing and missed out the first time around, can
pledge toward the dinners. From the interest and concern expressed for Ron on the
boards it would seem we can rally for a couple more gift certificates. I know Gina will
appreciate it.
To pledge (suggest $5.00) email me at trillium@ncia.net and I will forward my mailing
address. Deadline tuesday 5/15 at 4pm. Just about everyone that pledged money 2
weeks ago followed up. The integrity of everyone should be commended. Thank you.
Larry
Ron aka milplease is home as of today!
It appeared toward the end of the week that the doctors would be keeping Ron for another
week until his arrhythmia was under control. However, Ron was discharged today and is now
spending the rest of his recovery at home with his family. Gina is delighted to have him home
for mothers day, and I know Ron must be elated to be out of the hospital. He's tired, but
feeling fine as Gina says. The road ahead will require many doctors visits and a gradual
recooperation but at least he is at home with his family.
He's been hospitalized for nearly 3 weeks now.
This is a brief exerpt from Gina's email to me which I think she won't mind sharing with the
board.... "I'm sure he'll make a daily trip to the basement to get online for awhile! Thanks in
the meantime for the "tons" of cards that came to him. It was very cool!
Again, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Now, I need to pray for patience to deal with
having a recovering heart patient in my home... Give me strength! Love to all, Gina"
Now that Ron is home, given some time, I'm sure he will reunite himself with the boards. I've
been waiting till Ron returned home to arrange the last details of how to spend the remaining
contributions everyone has made. About $65.00 will go toward a gift certificate at a local
restaurant in their home town for take out so Gina won't have to cook for a night or two.
I personally want to thank everyone that contributed. I know that the sentiment was greatly
appreciated all along the way. I will say that this is an amazing community of people. Most
everyone that contributed hasn't even met Ron. In many respects the support shown Ron is
indictative of the support Ron has given to the stock. That is to say, that thru all the many
gyrations EDIG has taken, there are those that have provided the reassurance and support to
go the distance. Ron is one of those. Although I haven't had the privledge of meeting Ron in
person, nor most of his contributors, I look forward to next November at the shareholders
meeting when we can get together. Thank you everyone.
Sincerely, Larry
Ron, aka milplease is doing well.
I spoke with him last evening and there are a couple of issues he’s dealing with. He has arrhythmia as a result of the surgery. It’s the normal result of the trauma to the heart from the surgery and his heart should recover on it’s own given time. The other issue is the infection which caused his heart failure in the first place. He is on IV and will remain on antibiotics for the next 5 weeks or so. He should be returning home sometime in the next several days. (By the end of the weekend.) His doctor tells him he should have no limitations after a recovery period.
Ron is extremely grateful to be alive. Before his surgery he was living hour by hour. They actually moved his surgery up from when it was scheduled because he lost consciousness at one point. We’ve been sending him happy faced balloons with the EDIG closing price magic markered to it each day and will continue to do so while he’s in the hospital. Last Friday he received the flowers which were described as absolutely beautiful by his wife. Roses, sunflowers and other spring time flowers. The remaining money about $75.00 will go toward a gift certificate for some take out food at a local restaurant near where they live. I haven’t crossed that bridge yet, but that was Gina’s desire when I presented several options the other day.
In closing Ron wanted me to express his sincere appreciation to everyone for their prayers, caring and thoughtfulness. It sounds like he’ll be back on the boards in fairly short order.
Larry
I just got off the phone with Ron.
His procedure lasted about 6 hours. He spent yesterday in intensive care and was moved to
a patient care room today. They did a Roth procedure where they remove his aorta valve and
replace it with his own pulmonary valve, then implant a donor valve to replace that. They've
been doing this for about 10 years and the hospital where he's at does about 50 / year. So
he's in good hands. He's weak but sounds like the old Ron.
I've arranged for his flowers to be delivered tomorrow. Flowers were not allowed in the critical
care unit nor the intensive care unit. I had to sweet talk my way thru the labyrinth of rules just
to get the happy faced balloons with the EDIG closing prices past the nurses station. I split
the balance of the contributions in half with the intent of sending a second delivery of flowers
when he gets home. Thank you to all who contributed. The note accompanying the flowers
just has everyone's alais. I hope this meets with everyone's approval.
I kidded with Ron saying that the shareprice went up today because of all those happy faced
balloons. The candy strippers paraded them thru the hospital and every nurse and doctor
now knows about EDIG. I figured he had personally convinced the hospital staff that they
couldn't live without the Cequence mobil recorders by now. Here to for todays price spike will
be known as the Ron effect.
It was great hearing Ron and the relief in his wife's voice. Ron will probably be in the hospital
all next week in recovery. Beyond that looms a somewhat nebulous recovery process. He's
very fortunate, and thankful for all the kind prayers and appreciates everyones concerns.
Larry
Ron (aka milplease) is out of surgery and doing fine. I don't have any more details than that at
this point but will update all as they become available. This was not slam dunk kind of
surgery and it's a big time relief for all to know he's out and doing fine. Thanks for all the
prayers. Larry
Ron, aka Milplease is scheduled to have his surgery today.
Ron has been on antibiotics for the treatment of an infection for a week now. The infection has damaged his aorta valve and the surgery today will replace it with an artificial one. We should all take a moment and offer some kind of prayer for Ron even if it’s only to wish him good luck in the sanctity of our own minds. When I hear more I’ll update. Larry
Our good friend milplease, has become seriously ill.
Milplease has been battling a bronchial infection for a few months now taking
antibiotics. He was admitted to a local hospital where he is now scheduled for an aortic
valve replacement. I'm planning on sending flowers later today. If anyone cares to
contribute or if they'd like the address so they can send a card email me at
trillium@ncia.net.
If you want to be apart of the flowers....just tell me how much you want to
pledge....suggest $5.00. I'll provide you my address. (Deadline to pledge, 4pm EST
today...at the closing bell. Your name or handle will appear on the card) If you want to
send a card, I'll provide you with the hospitals address. A prayer for Ron I'm sure would
be welcome. Larry
The big dance....
One of the problems I foresee down the road is not enough time between product introduction and product improvements. Case in point. The PJB will be introduced this quarter and most certainly within several months the next generation will be introduced be that a PJB with the 1.8" HDD, the voice enabled PJB that Fred has spoken of or an IBM microdrive version. Does this permit enough time for our OEM's to turn a profit or more importantly have their product eclipsed by the competition: Competition that we helped. We all know these guys can dance but can they dance the big agnostic dance and keep everbody happy.
I spoke with Robert today:
I asked him how many pre production models of the PJB had been manufactured so far. I suggested in my previous conversation that 500 were being produced. He corrected me that he never offered a number and wasn’t about to now. I asked if they were still in production. He said they were and were still being sent out to OEM’s and reviewers. I asked if they were being accumulated by OEM’s as inventory. He said “It was up to the OEM’s to decide when they had enough to launch their product.”
I asked if he had seen any reviews. He said he couldn’t comment on that. I asked in a different way. Is it customary for OEM’s to see reviews before they are published. He said, “No, generally speaking we see them when you see them. There is no opportunity to comment on them before hand. The reviewers test, tweak, and run the products through their trials. The only occasion we might speak with them is if there is some kind of question.” I asked about timing, commenting on the different types of media. He said, “Some of the print media has 2-3 month lead time, Others less and the Internet is almost instantaneous.” I said, “I was trying to get a handle on how long it would take.” His response was “Most of the larger print media had Internet sites so lead times wouldn’t hold things up”
I brought up a previous conversation where I remembered him saying that the size of the HDD was the most significant factor in determining the size of the PJB. Now Toshiba has developed a 1.8” HDD that is more than 25% smaller. Does this mean that we can design a PJB that's 25% smaller than the original reference design? He said that it did. He went on to discuss the Micro drive and how IBM was becoming aggressive pricing it and how much interest there was in it. I asked if Toshiba’s HDD was proprietary. He said it wasn’t. “That other OEM’s could incorporate them into their devices.” Then I tried to slip in a smoothie....Doesn’t it seem reasonable that Toshiba would incorporate their own HDD into our PJB reference design. He laughed as if to say what do you think I’m stupid and said “ I can’t go there”....I knew that but what the hey!
I asked about the IBM announcement last week saying it sure sounded as though we’re involved it some kind of way. Will we be receiving referrals from IBM in much the same way we do from TXN. His response was. I can only comment on what has been publicly announced between us and IBM. The micro drive, travelstar HDD and EMMS. We are working on much more with IBM but cant comment on it until it is announced by IBM and us.
It was reported by someone that you said the ET 700 is not one of our reference designs. A shareholder reported that an Eastech representative said at the CES that they already had 2 OEM’s already signed up. Could you clarify what's going on here. He said, Eastech and EDIG have not had an announcement yet specifying which models were EDIG’s designs. There was another shareholder at Cebit that talked with an Eastech representative and was told there are no OEM’s signed up for the ET 700. All I can say at this time is that there are OEM’s signed up
I then asked about Lanier saying they still haven’t clarified our business relationship. I asked if he thought it would be in the shareholders interest to have a representative at the Lanier conference this week. (In Seattle, got that Murrayhill) He laughed, but secretly I could hear him twitch in angst. After my feeble attempt at humor, I asked about if we were filling the old Lanier purchase orders or if we’d received new ones since Platinum had taken over. He said “ The old PO’s were updated but basically we were working off of them.” I asked if production was ongoing and he assured me it was.
I touched on the subject of Fred's obligations for the options he’s exercised last Sept. He said that “Both he and Fred had both sold back in Feb. of last year and set aside moneys to meet those obligations.” He mentioned that they expected things to play out differently last fall. I brought up a previous conversation where he explained that Dataplay had orrigionally intended to introduce their product this spring. (At the time (back in Feb.) I was looking for an explanation for the missing third multibillion dollar OEM.) He said, “They pushed back the schedule mainly so they could get a feel for the market at the CES. They wanted to be prepared.”
Robert speaks glowingly about Dataplay whenever the subject is brought up. By the sound of it there are many more unannounced OEM’s than there are announced.
I want to conclude with my boilerplate safe harbor statement. These forward looking
comments are brought to you by the sometimes fallible listening abilities of the phoner.
The phonee takes no responsibility for actually saying what the phoner thought he heard.
On this occasion the phonee was returning my call making him the phoner and me the
phonee. In neither case does this make either one of us a phony.
Larry
Great DD Scott; this information is quite reassuring./
I talked with Robert yesterday: A good one!
I’m aware of some of recent concerns expressed on the boards and wanted to obtain some explanations. Orygun_gal posted the following email from Hy-tek which raised concerns about the availability of the Treo. http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=653926
Thank you for your interest in the Treo! Unfortunately we are not going to
be able to start shipping as soon as we'd hoped, due to the availability of
some of the components for the Treo. However, we do expect to be shipping the Treo in about 2 months.
Robert's comment was that “Hy Tec made a mistake specifying a date and now they are trying to distance themselves.” (Note: His remarks are no different than 2 weeks ago when I spoke with him. I said it then ( http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=643488 ) and I’ll say it again, Now hear this people...Back Off! ) He also said “I understand why everyone is so anxious to get their hands on a player but the introduction of a player doesn’t happen overnight. We have product in production now and we are still sending it out to reviewers.”
I asked him about the 500 pre production PJB’s and if they were all of the Treo variety or if they represented designs of other OEM’s. He said “I can’t go there.” I asked about the timing of the reviews. Suggesting “Would Fleishman Hillard coordinate the reviews to coincide with the introduction of the players.” Robert said that OEM’s would not do what Hy Tek had done and try and anticipate product availability. They will wait until the pipeline is full before they introduce their players.” (Note, My take is that Robert's response to my second question indicated an answer to my first question even though he couldn’t go there.)
I moved on to the next issue. I brought up Zibel’s report (http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=651057) and some of the concerns many have expressed on the board. Robert said “eDigital had other platforms displayed at CeBit but they didn’t feel comfortable announcing them because they didn’t have any control or representation there. They felt very comfortable with the IBM announcement because there were two IBM representatives that were responsible for showing and meeting with OEM’s. There were only 2 prototypes there and some of the time they were on the floor, at other times they were being presented to OEM’s in private meetings. Zibel (he used his real name) just timed it wrong.”
The other concern Zibel expressed was the issue of Eastech not having any OEM’s signed up other than themselves for the PJB. Robert said “There’s a couple of explanations of what probably happened. Zibel (again he used his name) is Belgin and although he speaks very good English he was communicating with someone from Taiwan. Not everyone working for Eastech would be privileged to that information. Some of these people are representatives but don’t have the background.” He assured me that Eastech had OEM’s on board.
I asked him about the Nomad discounting and what he felt about it. He said. “I think it’s an exciting development. It moves the market ahead. What is needed is for the PJB to retail for 199 - 299 in order to open things up. They will be offering the current version at 399 and the modified version for 269. We don’t know what features they will offer yet but we’re sure our OEM’s can compete.” He went on to explain the advantages we’ve all heard before....fewer parts, less cost, etc. I interjected, I remember Fred’s comments at the shareholders meeting when he talked about the Treo retailing for $300 + or - $25 and feeling a bit disappointed when the suggested retail would be 399. He said “ It’s what they (Hy Tek) felt the market would bare. It will be interesting to see how they respond. They should have no problem competing”
Lastly I asked about a remark Fred had made in the Letter to the shareholders. I read the following from the report as I went along I counted (# )
“Following our business plan, we have dedicated strategic engineering resources to the development and implementation of new product platforms that include digital video for portable devices (ONE), automotive and home stereo designs (TWO), cellular phone
accessories(THREE), and set-top boxes.(and FOUR) We are working with multiple OEMs on specific applications of these MicroOS- and MicroCAM-powered platforms for inclusion in a
variety of branded products.”
I asked does this mean we will be announcing 4 new product platforms in this quarter and will they have working prototypes and OEM’s to go along with them?
He said “All the above” Then he went on to explain “With these platforms they could then take different OEM’s proprietary designs and incorporate them into the platform to enable different features.”
I asked one more question. “ Several months ago you said we were working with double digit OEM’s. Is that still true?
His answer. “We’ve been adding since then”
I want to conclude with my boilerplate safe harbor statement. These forward looking comments are brought to you by the sometimes fallible listening abilities of the phoner. The phonee takes no responsibility for actually saying what the phoner thought he heard. On this occasion the phonee was returning my call making him the phoner and me the phonee. In neither case does this
make either one of us a phony. Larry
Discounting
After the shareholders meeting Fred remarked that he expected the Treo to sell for about $300.00. Well we all know the list is $399.00. My impression is that the difference is margin. The fact that the Treo has 1/2 the number of parts as the Nomad means that it can be produced more competitively. I agree that the added feature sets provide added value and discounting the Treo to compete with the Nomad seems unnecessary for the moment. What will drive the price south is the competition between OEM's that have contracted our reference design. Essentially the same guts with different proprietary features and appearance. I have little doubt that by next Christmas PJB's designed by EDIG will be selling for less than $300.00. Decisions like this are beyond EDIG. They are the perview of the OEM's. My understanding is that we will receive the contracted royalty for the life of the product regardless of the sale price. The thing that will drive the cost down is competition. The attractive margins permitted with fewer parts, enable discounting. Further Eastech has a facility in China designed exclusively for volume production. As sales volumes increase, production will switch from Malasia to China where labor costs are the most competitive in the world.
From Fred letter of March 29th
According to IDC, digital audio player shipments worldwide are expected to increase at a compounded annual rate of 51%, from 3.3 million in 2000 to nearly 26 million in 2005. The United States is the largest market for these products. Shipments in the United States are expected to grow from 2.8 million units in 2000 to 18 million in 2005. IDC also predicts that hard-drive based jukeboxes will become increasingly popular. Portable players are expected to account for 61 percent of worldwide compressed audio device shipments by 2005, dominating the market.
At this point in time it's difficult to gauge EDIG's future in this market. The spectrum of thinking ranges from the feeble introduction, hampered by parts shortages and conflicts among the players, to the adoption by the industry titans, of a world class engineering design and market domination. My own vision lies closer to the latter. The forces that motivate corporate decision making all entail the bottom line outcome. Our reference design provides not just better engineering, but a more competitive product.
Man, I love this business plan! Larry
chwdrhed: My understanding is $3-4/device is the minimum / device and here eDigital is referring to the MP 2000. At the top of the range is $14 /device. I would hope we're pushing the high end on most of these contracts with the PJB. I know each OEM brings a different element to the equation, greater or lesser volume, more and better features but the bottom line is EDIG can design the finished product more reasonably with fewer components. OEM's will be willing to contract and pay EDIG's royalties knowing their costs / unit are less and margins more. It is my understanding that the PJB will comprise the majority of EDIG's income for the near term. As such it wouldn't surprise me if the average royalties / device were in the 8 - 10 dollar range.
Just conjecturing but initial orders of 25K units / month for 4 OEM's would yeild about 1M per month. 3M / quarter. Plus Lanier and engineering fees. Even with this conservative estimate it doesn't require much insight to extrapolate what the future holds. The royalties continue to accumulate for the life of the product while the EDIG engineering machine continues to add additional products to the pipeline. God I love this business plan! Larry
LGJ: Thanks for providing us with another option to Raging Bull/