http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 8:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 8:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 8:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
My 1 yr old stops & stares at the screen whenever one of their commercials comes on. Just like me.
]]>Aug 30th 2007 8:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 8:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
Sorry I had to ;)]]>Aug 30th 2007 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
Disclaimer: I work for Helio (and am glad the company has the wherewithal to make the tough choices necessary to succeed).]]>Aug 30th 2007 8:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 8:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 9:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 9:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
Joel
http://www.best-pixels.com ]]>Aug 30th 2007 11:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 30th 2007 11:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
Good luck guys!]]>Aug 30th 2007 11:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
Those leaving have achieved a lot and whoever snatches them up will be incredibly fortunate.]]>Aug 31st 2007 12:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/
As far as MVNO's go, I really liked Helio. They had great products and seemed to have a pretty solid grasp on fulfilling the consumers desire.

Unfortunately the US carrier market is not kind to MVNOs. Particularly with mobile operators running a network through the same system that MVNO's are piggy-backing on, they've got to compete in areas that AREN'T price. There's no way a Helio or Amp'd is going to out-price their native carrier competition (those native carriers would never allow it based on the costs they pass along to MVNO for the privilege of using their network).

Unfortunately, the there are three main elements to competing as a carrier: cost, coverage, and handsets. Customer service *could* be an element, but for the most part customer service ratings are up and down across the board, I pretty much consider it a push.

So, you're an MVNO, your coverage is linked to whatever carrier is letting you piggy-back, and if you're regional you're not going to be able to make a push against a national carrier, and if you're a national MVNO, you're not going to be any better than the network you're already on. Then there's cost, once coverage is a push, cost becomes a big factor, but the difference is VZW/Sprint/AT&T has a middle-man-free environment and will continue to make money at a more substantial growth rate than the MVNO.

Then, lastly, there's handsets. But handsets are isolated. The more features you pack into them the more spectrum and carrier bandwidth are going to be used, and thus, passed along in the costs to the MVNO.

It's a pretty crappy situation to be an MVNO in the US, and I'm hoping Helio can pull through. They've got great marketing, and a killer handset lineup (I say that as a total iPhone tool, no less). I just don't know if the big guys are going to let anyone ambitious have a space in their market. You've gotta carve out a niche and stay there, lest you draw the ire of the hand that feeds...]]>Aug 31st 2007 12:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 31st 2007 4:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/Aug 31st 2007 1:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/helio-lays-off-about-100-employees-says-sales-are-bullish/I don't blame Helio's PR for trying to make a bad situation look like it has been planned all along as part of their master business strategy.

But this has been done in answer to Earthlink's demand for them to step up profits and cut losses. Earthlink has pumped millions of dollars into Helio and seen no returns. This has hurt their own cash flow so much so that they are in a bad situation themselves laying off half of their own workforce.

When you have $ 100 million dollars in annual revenue but are burning through $ 90 million per quarter just to stay alive, the math is not in your favor. Helio's guidance of signing up 3 million customers by 2009 is not only impossible, but a huge overstatement by management who heavily believed in the MVNO strategy.

This is just the beginning. At the end of next quarter, Helio will be out of money again and if parent company's Earthlink and SK-Telecom don't put up, Helio is going to have to look to private banks to extend them more credit just to keep the lights on and payroll moving. They better get some funding now before we see a repeat performance to the likes of Amp'd. ]]>Aug 31st 2007 2:38PM