“RealNetworks pioneered digital media in the 1990s and doubled its music-subscription business last year, but Wall Street’s playing a different tune nowadays,” Brier Dudley reports for The Seattle Times. “When RealNetworks founder and chief executive, Rob Glaser, pitched his stock yesterday at the Goldman Sachs Technology Symposium, the room was half empty and only a handful of investors stayed around to ask questions.”
“Digital media is hot, but RealNetworks apparently is not, at least in comparison with Apple. Apple boss Steve Jobs didn’t make it to Goldman’s conference, but the company’s chief financial officer came and drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 institutional investors,” Dudley reports. “Glaser was undaunted by Apple stealing the limelight. ‘Apple’s got a hot product right now so obviously people are focused on that,’ he said. ‘But in terms of being one of the core companies up there, they look at us in digital media in the same sentence as Apple or Microsoft.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We have an insatiable craving for an original glased Krispie Kreme right about now. By the way, QuickTime, announced in May 1991, is the pioneer, certainly not Real. RealNetworks (then known as Progressive Networks) wasn’t even founded by ex-Microsoft executive Rob Glaser until 1993. In February 1994, Apple Computer introduced QuickTime 2.0 which featured interactive television, music and full-screen video support. RealVideo debuted three long years later in February 1997.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
RealNetworks’ CEO Rob Glaser grabs 3 of top 10 spots on ‘Dumbest Moments in Business 2005’ list – January 31, 2005
Bono-Glaser photo caption contest now open – October 25, 2004
Real’s CEO Glaser: ‘Harmony’ hack legal, Mac lovers are very sensitive to Apple criticism, and more – September 14, 2004
Analyst: Rob Glaser’s ill-advised war against Apple ‘is going to bite RealNetworks on the ass’ – August 30, 2004
RealNetwork’s CEO Glaser crashes Apple’s music party – July 30, 2004
Real CEO Glaser: Steve Jobs’ comments on Real ‘not succeeding’ are ‘ridiculously humorous’ – April 29, 2004
NY Times: Real CEO Glaser was close to having ‘iPod’ before Apple, but let it ‘slip through his fingers – April 24, 2004
Real’s CEO Glaser: Apple’s iPod/iTunes combo ‘threatens to turn off consumers’ – April 20, 2004
Jobs to Glaser: go pound sand – April 16, 2004
Real CEO Glaser begs Apple to make iPod play nice with other music services – March 24, 2004
Real CEO Glaser: ‘iTunes is only going to be used for playing songs you bought using the iTunes store – January 16, 2004
Great fact based rebuttal MDN. Well done.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!
Today’s magic word is “become”, as in “Look what you have become, Glaser!”