Air Products turns an e-page

One of the latest gadgets to hit the marketplace -- Amazon.com's Kindle e-book that lets users download books via wireless modem to a paperback-size electronic reader -- features some technology developed right ...

[comment]

Air Products and E Ink better get on the ball, because this technology has existed in Korea and China for a couple of years now.

I invested in ReignCom which produces a product called iRiver and a few others in the portable digital content player segment of the consumer electronics markets. They have over a 50% markets share in Korea and China. The company was a start-up of former Samsung executives.

They are in Korea, Japan, China and now ready to expand to India and South America. Currently knocking out 500k units per year. If they do another FDI/Greenfield Investment they will build a 2nd 500k unit plant.

While good for Air Products, these companies are a little bit behind curve.

[impressed]

comment wrote:

Air Products and E Ink better get on the ball, because this technology has existed in Korea and China for a couple of years now.
I invested in ReignCom which produces a product called iRiver and a few others in the portable digital content player segment of the consumer electronics markets. They have over a 50% markets share in Korea and China. The company was a start-up of former Samsung executives.
They are in Korea, Japan, China and now ready to expand to India and South America. Currently knocking out 500k units per year. If they do another FDI/Greenfield Investment they will build a 2nd 500k unit plant.
While good for Air Products, these companies are a little bit behind curve.

Sometimes, especially with new technologies, its good to be a little behind the curve. They can learn from some of the mistakes made by other companies.

[aggie]

What mistakes???? Behind the curve??
Corporations don't make mistakes, investors make mistakes.

[tango king]

you mean like
Windows Vista
laser discs
beta video

aggie wrote:

What mistakes???? Behind the curve??
Corporations don't make mistakes, investors make mistakes.

[comment]

As an investment banker, I am well schooled in looking at 1st mover vs. 2nd mover advantage. ReignCom is a company already a 2nd mover advantage model, utilizing existing technology with modifications and repacking based upon consumer preferences, much like an Apple.

This would make whatever this product being introduced by Amazon as a 3rd mover. The model is based less on being the innovator, but more on the power of the marketing of the Amazon name, and buddling it with their expertise in placement/distribution of published material in an affordable method.

My point is that it will be an uphill battle as they look for new avenues to generate growth. If these take off, the reduction in printed publications will decline, just as it has happened in newspaper business.

Air Products hopefull is working in collaboration with many firms around the world. I know they are because they have very strong ties to Samsung in Korea. API is very involved in the East Asian electronic segment for semiconductor and electronics.

It is the one great corporate asset that truly global left in the Lehigh Valley. If I were raising a child or a Superintendant of Schools, I would be pushing every child to study chemistry and physics and get into Lehigh or Lafayette or Penn State and continue feeding our best students into Air Products. The growth of Air Products is one of the last hopes for a resurgent Lehigh Valley and opportunity for the next generation to stick around.