Become a Member

Pocket Nine-times your money with HCIT: “This Discreet Amsterdam ‘Rendezvous’ Will Ignite a $678 Billion Tech Explosion”

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, August 24, 2009

One of the fun things about serving as your friendly neighborhood Stock Gumshoe is that boredom is never a challenge — each morning I get up and check the email box, and there’s invariably some bit of balderdash in there just waiting for a look-see.

And today? No different, as you’ve no doubt surmised. Today I’m looking at an ad from Karim Rahemtulla for his Xcelerated Profits Report, about whose teasers I’ve written many times before.

And though the company teased here is essentially focused on touch screen technology and some related businesses, the part that grabs your attention is the bit about a mysterious meeting that will take place, according to the ad …

“On September 15th…

“This Discreet Amsterdam ‘Rendezvous’ Will Ignite a $678 Billion Tech Explosion ….

“‘The event of the decade.’ – BBC News Technology Forecaster

“Here’s how you could pocket nine-times your money ahead of the coming boom…

“It happens on September 15…

“That’s when top executives from around the world will discreetly meet at a private location in the heart of Amsterdam…

“The heads of companies like Motorola, Google, Intel, and Qualcomm will begin their meeting promptly at 8:00am…

“There will be no media coverage… you won’t see it on live broadcast… and full details won’t be published in the Journal for months.”

This is a technique I’ve seen used a few times — copywriters love to find a little meeting, or congressional hearing, or technical conference somewhere, and use that scheduled event to create an aura of secrecy and mystery and, of course, urgency … so don’t worry, I’ll tell you about this special meeting and about the company being teased, just give me a few more moments of your time.

So what’s going to happen at this meeting? Well, the Rahemtulla version is:

“In short, they will fast-track the proliferation of a new breakthrough that Popular Mechanics calls a ‘highly evolved…technology… changing the way humans interact with machines.’

“It’s a ‘touch’ technology that will soon let you feel the texture of an iceberg thousands of miles away… test the firmness of a mattress over the internet… and even touch your spouse’s hand while you’re away on business.

“It might sound far-fetched, but this technology already has a handful of tech giants scrambling to get a piece of the action.

“In fact, Nokia – the global cell phone leader – just got on board, and is eager to make this next generation ‘touch’ technology a major component in its 2010 lineup.”

How can you not want to buy that? How about some details that can tell us specifically which company this is? The teaser letter goes on to say that just the top four industries who might use this technology would make it a $678 billion market. We throw around a lot of numbers in this space, but that’s a big one — that’s about twice as much money as ExxonMobil had in sales over the last year.

They then go on to explain the technology, without using the key word that most accurately describes it (that would make it too easy, naturally) …

“It’s called human-computer interaction technology, or HCIT for short.

“If you never heard of HCIT before, you’re not alone.

“According to the CEO of tech company Novint, ‘Not that many people know about it, but it’s one of the few technologies’ that ‘fundamentally changes’ the world of electronics.

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


“It uses tiny chips installed under the surface of electronic devices. When activated, the chips deliver a “touch” response that you can actually feel”

And they go on to insert their favorite made-up acronym, HCIT, into several quotes to make it seem that much more special …

“‘One word that should be in everybody’s vocabulary is [HCIT].’
– BBC News Technology Forecaster

“‘[HCIT] is the new math for touchscreen devices.’
– Popular Mechanics

“‘Long neglected in favor of the sensory heavyweights of vision and hearing, the study of touch lately has been gaining new cachet.’
– The New York Times

“‘The future of the computer interface will… revolve around touch.’
– Technology Review

“‘A transformational new generation of [HCIT] is about to emerge.’
– Computerworld

“‘At the moment we look at our machines and they look at us, but they don’t have the sense of physical touch or feedback. So [HCIT] is the way to give sensory touch between machines and humans.’
– BBC News Technology Forecaster”

So … what the heck are they talking about? Well, when they say “HCIT” we can just insert the word “haptics” — haptic technology is the generally used term that’s used for the “forced feedback” to the user that makes a computer interaction seem more real, simple versions might be the vibration in a game controller when the race car you’re driving hits a bumpy patch, but the reference they use inthis is for improving touch screens — so if you used a touchscreen keyboard on a phone, for example, you would feel some feedback from the screen that gives a sensation of pressing actual keys unlike, say, the current iPhone touchscreen.

Or in another use that’s often mentioned, the da Vinci robot from Intuitive Surgical might be signfiicantly improved if haptic technology was added so that when a surgeon moved the instruments inside your body, he could feel the resistance of the material he was cutting, or nudging against, or what have you, to make it better replicate “real life” and make it less of a purely visual exercise.

So the plain explanation of HTIC/haptics is that it can provide you with a touchscreen that touches back.

But what is this company, and what’s the September 15 event?

Well, the event on September 15 in Amsterdam is OSiM World — OSiM stands for Open Source in Mobile, and it’s a trade meeting of companies involved in creating, improving, or using open source technology and software in mobile devices. And yes, the emerging open source developments — which include stuff like Google’s Android operating system for phones, as well as many versions of Linux and other stuff that I don’t even half understand — is of significant importance for the big players in the field, so lots of household names like Qualcomm, Nokia, Intel and ARM will be there as major sponsors.

But the company being teased here? Let’s look into that a bit more — the money-making argument, at least for the huge returns teased, the implication that you could make nine times your money in a matter of months, revolves around the next breakthrough in smart phones that use this HTIC/haptics stuff … and if we’re talking about a potential huge smartphone player that hasn’t yet gotten credit for that potential, we must be talking about Nokia … and the market buzz they’re trying to take currently belongs, of course, to Apple’s iPhone.

“Without HCIT, one MarketWatch industry insider says the iPhone ‘keyboard is a disaster.’

“And Apple’s big mistake is opening the door for Nokia.

“You see, as Bernstein Research analysts report: ‘Apple is missing out on 83 percent of the handset market today…’ and this ‘could prove very lucrative for Nokia.’

“And Nokia isn’t wasting any time…

“‘This is the first technology I’ve seen… which could genuinely revolutionize the use of handheld devices… [HCIT] is something which every phone, PDA and handheld computer manufacturer would give their right arm for…’
– Sunday Times’ technology columnist

“Nokia’s Covert Power Play

“What most people don’t realize is that Nokia is the largest cell phone provider in the world.

“Over 1.1 billion people worldwide use Nokia phones.

“That’s a 40% global market share.

“So if Nokia released a phone with advanced HCIT, it could blast the iPhone out of the water

“And that’s exactly what’s about to happen – and why I wanted to get this information in your hands today.

“As Nokia’s CEO says, HCIT ‘will drive the next wave of industry growth.'”

So the argument is that Nokia will be the sugar daddy, and the company being teased will be the recipient of that largesse as they allow Nokia to use their technology to take over the world of smart phones with better touch screen technology.

And this little technology company? After all this verbiage, that’s what we finally come down to, as we have so often in the past, a little firm that doesn’t show a profit but has filing cabinets packed with patents …

In Rahemtulla’s words,

“I’ve isolated the one company that owns over 700 HCIT patents… the same patents now borrowed by Nokia, Samsung, and BMW…”

So that’s the final clue that I need to tell you that indeed, this little company is …

Immersion (IMMR)

And yes, they’re quite small — and on the surface, they look dirt cheap. The market cap is just about $120 million, and they have $80 million in cash as of the last quarter. Then again, they lost more than $50 million in the last year, so that cash might not last them all that long unless they’ve got some business coming in right quick.

They do claim to have over 700 patents, and BMW, Nokia and Samsung have all licensed their technology to one degree or another. Will OSiM World bring some kind of new breakthrough for them? I have no idea — it wouldn’t be surprising if they were in some way involved in the conference, but from what I can tell from a quick look at the OSiM website they’re neither presenting, exhibiting, nor sponsoring anything at the event. OSiM is much more focused on the economics and practicalities of becoming a successful open source developer and working with the manufacturers than it is on the specific design of handsets or touchscreens — I didn’t see anything on the agenda about touchscreen technology, but, of course, it’s possible that there’s a different top-secret meeting in Amsterdam that day involving mobile phone companies, or that I didn’t look closely enough. Immersion is a member of LiMo, the open source foundation that is trying to build a new and independent open source mobile phone operating system.

And there’s a bit more to understand about Immersion — they did report losing about $50 million last year, but they also just recently announced that they have to re-analyze their 2008 numbers because they might not be accurate, so that might change. They also got a delisting threat from Nasdaq because they haven’t yet filed a timely second quarter report for this year, perhaps because of these same accounting challenges (I don’t know, that’s just a guess).

And Immersion’s haptics technology isn’t just a patent — they do have devices selling right now that do use their technology, including phones from LG and Samsung, as well as some other applications including high end automotive controls, video game controllers, medical training, and industrial touchscreen controls. Since analysts still expect IMMR to lose about 50 cents a share next year, my guess is that if we’re looking at a massive return in the next six months it will be from a much-faster-than-expected series of Big Deals being signed for licensing IMMR’s haptics into smartphones. That’s a total guess.

Frankly, for the shares to really capture investors’ attention to that degree, bringing near-1000% returns, they might have to put Immersion’s technology in the next iPhone — Nokia certainly has a great smart phone, but there aren’t quite as many bloggers out there speculating on the next Nokia technology, or millions of investors trading over rumors of their next product … if you want super sexy, and you want investor attention, it’s still Apple all the way.

If you’d like to read up a bit more on haptics, the Popular Mechanics article that’s quoted in the ad is a decent place to start, it’s from last year but is pretty interesting. Nokia is indeed working on new phones with Immersion, though in the past they’ve also funded their own research into haptics, and I’m sure other companies are working on feedback and new touchscreen technology all the time, too — I don’t have any idea whether or not IMMR will be the one little guy that comes out of this a huge winner or not.

So what do you think? Will Immersion be the next big winner? Will we see their haptics licensed for great new surgical tools, or for the next must-have phone or laptop? Will their accounting problems be a big deal, or just some t’s they forgot to cross? Beats the heck out of me … I can just tell you that I’m pretty sure this is the stock that Rahemtulla is teasing, if you’ve got an opinion feel free to share it with a comment below. And if you’ve ever subscribed to the Xcelerated Profits Report, by all means, click here to review it for your fellow investors and let us know if it’s worth the cabbage.

guest

12345

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

8 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
SageNot
Member
SageNot
August 24, 2009 2:58 pm

Basically, it trades lower than it did over 5yrs ago.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=IMMR&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=m50,m200&a=&c=

To me it means that it’s missed two bull markets so far, I guess one day it actually might start a rebound that holds up.

henry
Guest
henry
August 24, 2009 4:38 pm

refer to class action lawsuits being considered ” Kendall Law Group Begins Immersion Corporation Shareholder Investigation ”
DALLAS, Aug 19, 2009 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX)
A former federal judge and former U.S. Attorney at Kendall Law Group are investigating potential claims for possible securities violations on behalf of the shareholders of Immersion Corporation (Nasdaq:IMMR) concerning public statements made between May 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

Kendall Law Group’s investigation focuses on allegations that Immersion released false and misleading statements as to their business, operations and prospects. On July 1, 2009, the Company disclosed that the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors was conducting an internal investigation into certain previous revenue transactions in their medical line of business, with the assistance of outside counsel. On this news, shares of Immersion declined more than 23% or $1.14 per share, closing with an unusually heavy volume at $3.80.

If you are a shareholder of Immersion Corporation, you may be able to recover for your stock loss. Contact attorney Hamilton Lindley at 877-744-3728 or hlindley@kendalllawgroup.com to discuss this matter. Although every case is different, Kendall Law Group has participated in the recovery of over $800 million for defrauded shareholders. For more information about the firm, visit http://www.kendalllawgroup.com.

Add a Topic
2520
Add a Topic
2520
Add a Topic
2520
Eric Sensiba
Guest
Eric Sensiba
August 24, 2009 5:08 pm

There are some things to like about Karim’s Accelerated Profits and Strategic Income reports. If one is looking for a conservation covered call approach to generate income then the Strategic Income is a reasonable choice. I just don’t care for all the other solicitations that the Oxford Club throws at you once you become a member. BTW I bought IMMR two years ago based upon his recommendation and lost some dollars. Maybe this time he’ll get it right.
The notsowyz1

Add a Topic
910
Add a Topic
996
Add a Topic
996
Terry Waggoner
Terry Waggoner
August 25, 2009 8:19 am

I have been a subscriber to subject newsletter a bit over a year and have found it to be worth the $49.50 annual fee, particularly in the covered call arena. As a subscriber, the teaser you analyze never reached me. In the September newsletter just received, the only mention of IMMR is in the portfolio update section and is quoted, reformatted, just below:

Immersion Corp.(IMMR)Recommended in Dec 2005 issue – Bought stock at $5.56. Current price (August 3, 2009) $4.30. Took 105% gains on first half of position on 6/4/07.

===============================

December issue would have been received in November and stock was not below $6.00 for rest of the year. Because they typically have recommended entry points and stops, the first date following the recommendation with a price of $5.56 was mid-July, 2006. Price on 6/4/07 was $13.27, so I don’t get the math of 105%.

The teaser is assumedly to encourage new buyers as the 2nd half of their position is under water.

My experience with them has been positive, and I do not suspect duplicity.

Add a Topic
2520
Add a Topic
5971
Add a Topic
5971
Baij Patel
Guest
Baij Patel
September 15, 2009 10:29 am

I’ve used the Xcelerated Profits report in the past and have done ok from them (more than covering the tiny $50 per year price of subscription). I’ve been waiting for IMMR to go up for ages and am hoping it’s finally on the up now as I do think the technology is great but you probably need to be in it for the long run to show serious gains. It used to trade around $17 when I had the shares but now is at a bargain price. I suspect it will be a year or two before it gets up to that level again but a 300 to 400% improvement in 2 years would still be great!

Canuck
Guest
Canuck
October 3, 2009 1:24 pm

It is interesting that the “movers and shakers” in Karim Rahemtulla’s report now meet on on Jan 7 in Las Vegas, behind closed doors… Here is a direct quote:
Dear Reader,

It happens on January 7…

That’s when top executives from around the world will discreetly meet at a private location in the heart of Las Vegas…

I guess the September meeting wasn’t as successful as was hoped.

VanKouver
Guest
VanKouver
November 5, 2009 12:27 pm

Here’s their next presentation:

Companies:Immersion Corporation
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR – News), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, today announced that Mike Blicher, director of business development, will participate on a seminar panel at the 2009 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show, the automotive specialty products trade event. The seminar will be moderated by John Waraniak, SEMA vice president of vehicle technology, and will focus on accelerating product development, deployment, acceptance and integration of automotive and consumer electronics. What:
Driving Connected: Built-in, Brought-in and Beamed-in – Integrating
Automotive and Consumer Electronics.

Who:
2009 SEMA Show

When:
November 4, 2009
9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Where:
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Why:
Vehicle electrification, electronics integration and connected vehicle

noel garrido
Irregular
noel garrido
November 7, 2009 1:22 pm

HCIT… check out Novint (NVNT)and Manhattan Scientifics (MHTX), small plays in this HCI Technology or HAPTICS. MHTX has patents on this technology as well. Do some research and you will find out.

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies.

More Info  
32
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x