Simply put, Our company, EDig, has made bad decisions in the past, ala Woody running the company, the Root era and then following Mr. Colliers plan. Woody stepped aside knowing he was out of his league even with his own company. Mr. Root led us down the garden path, increased shares outstanding by over 100 million, and Mr. Collier was the right man at the wrong time. (By the way I believe he would have been successful had circumstances beyond his control not occured)
One can certainly say, by the accounts of many knowledgeable people on this board, both technical and business proficient, that EDig has quality products on the cutting edge of technology which are also demanded by the public...ala the IPod....
Then you ask, "Why in the hell aren't we successful"? Millionaires?? Mistakes, yes, Events beyond the control of the company,,,,, H E L L YES.
Just attempting to find its way in this economy.
So now, after all the sidetracks, EDig is back to its original concept, that being an engineering company catering to the desires of OEM's, existing on royalties, etc....
In my conversation with FF and RP both admitted that the MoS was NOT necessary for the vast majority of MP3's out there and that was one reason for the lack of OEM's jumping into a more expensive, more capabile player. FF told me contracts were lost, not due to EDig work or products, but because certain OEM's decided to jump into the MP3 market with cheaper, less technical players. But we now jump forward to the present...
Mr. Falk became very animated when speaking of the products today and the NEED of a system like the Micro Os. Mr Putnam was equally excited. In essence, today Micro Os is needed for the advanced products EDig is involved in. Divx, IFE O1k, the Eclipse. Both stated almost the same thing...."Now is our time to shine". This may not generate excitement amongst the doubters out there but Dinkie and I came away very impressed and had trust in what they both said.
Mr. Falk said they had learned from the mistakes in the past and while the company has had inquiries about doing work in other fields they have put them on the "back burner" and will concentrate soley on those areas where Micro Os will shine. They are going slowly but surely (his exact words) They want to know all bases are covered before proceeding to the next step. They were burned and do not wish that to occur again. Mr. Putnam was particularly excited about the future in video. That is the future.
Both stated that no one product would pull EDig out of the red..
Mr. Falk is aiming for a well rounded balance sheet, (his words) anticipating revenue from the O1K line, some of which I do not believe will be around too long....IFE, Divx and Eclipse..They feel all will be successful.
REgarding the O1K line, Digitalway is the developer and manufacturer of the 100, 200, and 300. Dioneer makes the Silhouette.. EDigital HAS N0THING IN THEM as far as technology.
When creating the O1K for retail Mr. Collier felt a "full line" of players had to be available so EDig, in essence became a "retailer" for Digitalway and Dionerr. When I pressed Mr. Falk as to "why in the hell are we carrying a product we have nothing to do when we haven't the funds to properly market our own?" he shrugged his shoulders, said "I agree" I then asked him if the company's future included these products and I got the distinct impression the answer was NO. He could not answer directly but this was well into our conversation and the tenor was set so I feel pretty confident in my opinion....He as much said so....
As I have more to add I will do so.....I sincerely hope my impressions will be given an honest evaluation by those of you who read this. I came away very confident in EDig's future.
I DO NOT BELIEVE ANY FLIM FLAM WAS GIVEN TO DINkIE AND MYSELF BY MR FALK AND MR PUTNAM. Both were as different people from their annual meeting persona's as could be.
Since I am not a "techie" (Dinkie is and he asked all the technical questions) I went into our "grilling" and it was just that, with the idea of finding out as much as I could, even though nothing earth shattering was mentioned. (Although I felt from their excitement there were events just under the surface waiting to jump up (JUST MY OPINION) Simply stated I wanted to get a feeling if I was being lied to, given evasive answers, given half truths or given "blue sky". IN MY OPINION, none, absolutely none of that was there.
I wish all of you could have been there to form your own opinions. I don't think there would as many "doubters" around as there are now.
PS: Mr. Putnam did state that the financial condition of the company is the best it has been in the last 3 years and we will have no trouble in operating well enough to get the job done.
One other thing, as I remember things that pop into my head. Mr Putnam stated "EDig has finally come to the forefront for which it has been created. The reason for EDig's existance is the emergence of the need for Micro Os and that is happening right now." "We had a technology that wasn't necessary two years ago, it is now"
It's almost as if Edig is starting over .....AGAIN.... Maybe this time they have learned from the past and will get things right......I am a believer with the only caveat being those bugaboo "events beyond anyones control"
Frank
