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Posted on 03.03.07 by Nikhil @ 4:19 pm
Shares of OmniVision Technologies have been hit hard, falling 49% over the past year. While the stock market correction contributed to the stock’s slide, OmniVision has lots of its own problems as well. I was once a fan of OmniVision Technologies (nasdaq: OVTI - news - people ), adding shares of the company to the Forbes Wireless Stock Watch Core Wireless Portfolio in 2005. Fortunately, I got out before the stock’s most recent fall. Back in 2005, OmniVision, which designs image sensors–silicon semiconductors that turn photons into electrons so that they can be processed, stored or displayed–made about 75% of revenues from selling its camera chips to developers of mobile phones. The company also made its chips available in a variety of other electronics, such as security cameras, Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) PlayStation games and automobiles–to provide a rear image of what’s behind the car (useful when moving in reverse). Filed under: Stock Watch and Components Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 02.07.07 by Nikhil @ 4:12 pm
Many investors fear Novatel Wireless. The company, which was supposed to ride the wireless broadband wave in 2006, instead ran into a number of problems. Its shares fell about 19% in 2006, hitting a low of $8.14 in November. But there is good news. The company is riding the demand for increased broadband wireless services; its developing new applications business is turning around; and the stock is beginning to rebound as well. I believe that this year, demand for Novatel’s products will grow and investors will be rewarded. To put Novatel’s (nasdaq: NVTL - news - people ) rebound into some perspective, let me quickly explain what happened over the past two years. No question, Novatel went through a difficult time in 2005 and early 2006. The company, which makes wireless PC card modems, reported disappointing earnings for the fourth quarter of 2005. Even so, the company ramped up its R&D spending to develop several technologies that would one day be embedded into laptops to provide high-speed connectivity rather than relying on add-on PC cards. Novatel took a charge of $2.3 million to write down its inventory of old 2.5G data cards. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 09.28.06 by Nikhil @ 5:57 pm
Shares of Novatel Wireless (NVTL) fell more than 18% last week. The reason: Nokia (NOK) and Intel (INTC) announced that the two companies would work together to make notebook computers able to access cellular networks through high speed downlink packet access technology (HSDPA). The idea is to have product out in 2007. Nokia plans to make the cellular module while Intel would embed the module into a platform and handle sales and marketing to notebook vendors. Shares of Novatel were hit hard because Novatel dominates the sale of embedded wide area wireless modems. These are the radios that go inside a laptop, such as one from Dell, that are then activated by a wireless carrier, such as Verizon or Cingular, for use on their high speed data network. For Novatel, this is a growing part of its business. Of course, when you have a big opportunity like this and you hear that not just one Goliath, but two are coming into your turf, it’s not good news. It means that Novatel will now have a new competitor in the marketplace – one that could be very tough. Besides that, Intel was not considered a real threat, prior to this announcement. After all, in June Intel took steps to reduce its exposure to wireless, selling some of its wireless business to Marvell Technology Group (MRVL). Now, Intel is coming back strong with Nokia. Let me say, however, that right now, all this is nothing more than announcements. Intel and Nokia have not announced any particular product yet and obviously have no customers. They have just stated their intent. Shares of NVTL have fallen because investors are discounting the stock for a less competitive environment. This may, however, not be all bad news. With Intel now entering this market for wireless laptops, can Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) be far behind? If so, from where will AMD get its radios? It could be from a number of companies including Novatel or from others such as Sierra Wireless (SWIR) or Motorola (MOT). Enabling wireless laptops promises to be a big business worth half a billion dollars or more. I believe there will be room for many players. I’ll continue to watch this company and update readers of Forbes Wireless Stock Watch. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 07.04.06 by Nikhil @ 3:15 pm
Motorola recently released its stylish Q smartphone intended to eat into BlackBerry’s market. Now Samsung has joined the battle as well. The company just launched a sleek QWERTY smartphone, the SGH-i320. It could be the best of many different worlds. The SGH-i320 looks like a BlackBerry, but it supports Windows Mobile 5.0’s push email extensions. It also comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera as well as other applications such as Bluetooth. Read more about this phone, which will be launched in Europe first (sorry!) in The Register. In addition, Sharp Corp. just unveiled its BlackBerry killer called the W-ZERO3, a new Windows Mobile-based smart phone. The company is billing the phone as the “Japanese BlackBerry.” This, just before Research in Motion gets to Japan with its own BlackBerry, scheduled for this Fall. Read about the Sharp phone in VAR Business. Filed under: Stock Watch and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 05.29.06 by Nikhil @ 12:17 pm
Texas Instruments is worried about the market for cell phones. The company says that it appears that the growth of cell phones is slowing, especially in certain parts of the world where the market is getting saturated. So where to find growth? Texas Instruments says it is looking for new ways to expand its business and one area that shows promise, is in video for mobile phones as well as other products. Read more about Texas Instrument’s wireless forays in the Washington Post. Filed under: Stock Watch and Components and News Comments: None |
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Posted on 05.17.06 by Nikhil @ 4:06 pm
New York - Every now and then, I run across an interesting company that investors should know about. The latest is West Melbourne, Fla.-based Relm Wireless, which has carved out a very nice business for itself as a low-price, high-margin manufacturer of two-way land mobile radios. Traditionally, the biggest market for Relm has been public safety. Its customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Parks Service, to name just a few. About 70% of revenue comes from these organizations. To read about Relm’s new market opportunities, check out my column on Forbes.com by clicking here. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 05.04.06 by Nikhil @ 11:29 am
Microsoft is moving more aggressively into the mobile space. The company struck a deal with Qualcomm that will combine the Windows Mobile OS with Qualcomm’s mobile-phone chips. The result of this could be that Microsoft will be able to increase its share of the wireless phone market. Expect to see smart phones with Windows Mobile next year. Read the release at Qualcomm’s site. Filed under: Stock Watch and Components and News Comments: None |
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Posted on 11.30.05 by Nikhil @ 12:08 am
Third generation (3G) wireless networks have been slow to take off, but now that they are showing up, Texas Instruments sees an opportunity to expand its portfolio of wireless chips. The company just announced its 3G chip, which it is developing with NTT DoCoMo. Okay, here is some of the technical stuff about this chip. Its called the OMAPV2230 and it is based on WCDMA UMTS technology. The chip is both a baseband chip as well as application processor. The idea behind it is to allow you to use your handset to get streaming video an play complex games. Of course, you’ll be able to access sites on the Web as well. I expect that this will be a winner for TI because the development of this chip is a bit of a departure from TI’s regular practice. So far, TI has developed its baseband chips according to specs given by individual handset makers, such as Nokia. That’s expensive and limits the market for such a chip. The new 3G chip, however, is not made for any one particular equipment manufacturer. Instead, its a standard chip that should be able to be used by all manufacturers. That means a bigger market opportunity. The chip will be launched in Japan, where 3G is progressing faster than in many other parts of the world. TI will also sell to handset manufacturers in Europe and in other Asian countries. You can read more about this in the San Jose Mercury News. Filed under: Stock Watch and Components and News Comments: None |
