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
