NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

[Tonguehair]

I have a buddy who is starting up some sort of wireless business (internet, phone, voip, tv). His conversations are so technical, I have a very hard time following him, but the money folks follow him alright (Legg Mason and Smith Barney are trying to shove $50mil into his hands, he's got the previous State's attorney who successfully sued msft in this state, and lots and lots of private equity partners who are trying to get a piece of his action). With all of that said, I perked up last night when he started talking about one of his revenue streams: A guy with a cell phone types in "pizza" and a mobile google search comes up and gives him the 5 closest pizza places. I told him about neomedia. At first he was just plain dismissive, but I persisted and this morning he looked at the patents and sent this email (below). I'm stumped as to his issue regarding "what's in it for the SP's?" Don't get hung up on the fact that he can't spell or communicate a thought all that coherently (by the way, he's spending the next few days with some Google guys on the West Coast):

HE WRITES:

Quickly perused the stuff you said and think that the patent only
applies to barcodes and is not as broad as you may beleive. eff wants to
bust the patent. http://www.eff.org/patent/wanted/patent.php?p=neomedia - these guys are
a very powerful geek group and they are targeting busitng the patent,
since there may be a prior art open source solution.

http://www.scanbuy.com/website/docs/april23_naplesnews.pdf your right
this suit will determine the validity oof the neomedia patent

Overall it is an intersting technology and if some wireless operators
license it it could be a winner. The interesting thought is lets say
Verizon, Cingular or Sprint license this technology for their networks -
does the users all get the same response when you type in pizza from the
corner of charles and redwood. If so someone will need to build a google
sized noc which will cost lots of money. If each network gets unique
info then even bigger DNS servers will be required.

Next what is in it for the network. If, I as a network operater am not
getting any revenue, especially cell phone operators who are running
scared from solutions such as what we are building, then they can easily
block the traffic to the Paperclick. The user will use a content
provider where the network gets revenue. Getting revenue for directing
clicks is how Google, Yahoo, AOL get their money and is not patentable.

recent FCC and US supreme court decisions state that a network ought not
to block a use of the internet such as VoIP or other application except
for quality of service issues. In reality I can blcok anything I want
and call it a QOS issue because the increased traffic by the competing
traffic degenerate my net. While in essence this ruling made on the
behalf of the telco's is bad, it is the essence of what will make our
efforts very very lucrative since user location based info is one of the
income streams we hope to catch.

All the patent infrigment cases seem to have been against mobile phone
barcode readers. Symbol and some other barcode manufactures have had
wireless scanners prior to 1995. So far all the cases have settled so
there is still doubt as to whether this is an enforceable patent. I
check and kewords and trademarks or a use of them is not patentable. As
for barcodes they would have to creat their own codes since standard
barcode use would not be patentable



http://www.paperclick.com/patents.jsp



PaperClick®
The future of Mobile Marketing is today. By taking a picture of a
barcode or entering a brand name or tagline into a mobile phone, mobile
users can now link to any Web page in seconds. No long URLs, searches,
hard-to-use phone menus, or endless links in home pages. Just, point,
click and download from anywhere, anytime.

Products, brand names, brochures, posters, anything can now be
real-world hyperlinks. Make a purchase, enter a contest, obtain a
rebate, get a coupon, register a product...the applications are endless!
Additionally, we provide click-through reporting for all barcodes and
words, similar to traditional web-based advertising. PaperClick – Surf
the Real World.
www.paperclick.com <http://www.paperclick.com>

The mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, has quickly progressed
from concept to reality and is now considered one of the hottest
business strategies in the wireless industry.



The popularity of the MVNO strategy is certainly no surprise to . This
23-year wireless industry veteran has long been an MVNO proponent and
has worked with many wireless firms to develop their MVNO plans. A
former senior executive with MCI Communications and most recently the
executive vice president for business and corporate development at
mobile virtual network enabler X believes that MVNOs will revolutionize
and revitalize the wireless industry. In fact, he is using his wireless
expertise to help small firms and early stage companies develop business
strategies and negotiate relationships.

X new consulting firm, which has offices in Marin County, Calif., and
San Francisco. "I'm a startup guy," X says. "I like to help people get
started and build the initial relationships needed to grow faster."

X is familiar with wireless industry trends. He helped MCI negotiate its
wireless licenses back in the 1980s. Those licenses eventually were sold
to McCaw Cellular, which led to consolidation of the wireless industry.

When it comes to MVNOs, X believes this new phenomenon will have a
profound effect on the wireless industry. "Anyone who thinks the MVNO
trend is over is dead wrong," X says. "I think there will be another big
wave of MVNOs, and content is going to be the key to this game."

Specifically, X says, MVNOs will package content in a way that will
appeal to certain groups of consumers – ethnic groups, age groups, etc.,
similar to Virgin Mobile targeting of the teen and young adult market or
Movida's targeting of the Hispanic market. This type of segmentation is
difficult for traditional operators to accomplish because of their size.
"Once these high-speed networks are in place, they will have a profound
effect on the transition from voice to content," X says.

It's the value-added content and services that will keep MVNOs from
experiencing the same fate as traditional wireless resellers, which
compete with the large operators solely on price and have experienced
difficulties in recent years due to dwindling margins and increased
competition, he says.