VB: And you?
Waitt: We'll outpace them in innovation and on the high-end customer touch with our retail footprint and be significantly different that way. CE businesspeople already are starting to write the last chapter as if it's over, like in the PC business when we started coming up in the late-'80s and had a good run until things sorted themselves out. Even if things are happening faster now than then, it still takes time for that trend to play out regardless. CE margins continue to be higher than in the PC world because they don't have two companies like Microsoft and Intel that control innovation.
VB: Have you decided on certain things that you won't be?
Waitt: We're definitely not doing a PDA [in 2003]. We pulled the plug because it was a me-too product without a lot of opportunity to differentiate, so we went back to the drawing board. Until we can have a differentiated product with unique services offerings and integration capabilities, we won't play. We've also gone back and forth on the low-end PC. We're not out to be the biggest player out there; we just want to satisfy our customers.
Age: 40
Year Joined Company: 1985 (co-founder)
Education: Attended University of Iowa
Outside Board Seats: None
Previous Corporate Positions: None
2003 Compensation: N/A $2,946 in '02
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
