out of the woods ?, page-398

Xped right on schedule , always good to go back and look at old announcements and do a comparison.

Letter from then newly appointed CEO John Stefanac, 19 October, 2015

I’ve been involved in technology my whole career and am still amazed at how dynamic this industry is. How quick it changes. How non-forgiving it can be to those companies that are unwilling to change or don’t adapt to changing market conditions. I’ve always subscribed to the view that a company’s leadership should regularly engage with its stakeholders.
It was only a few weeks ago that I became Xped’s CEO and during this time I have had the opportunity to reflect, refocus and redirect. And as such, I thought it might be appropriate to share some of my thoughts and plans with you.
When we think of technology we most often think of what benefits we will derive from our first thoughts usually relate to how large it is, how many buttons does it have, its curved shape and how shiny it is. We then might reflect long enough to wonder just “How cool would it be to have that”. If anything, how easy it is to use and the benefits it brings are reduced to minor afterthoughts. Something I often repeat whenever anyone is within earshot is that technology brings with it wonderful benefits, but unless we are able to use it, those benefits will not be realised.
It’s no coincidence that our vision at Xped is Making Technology Human Again. Xped’s ADRC technology was designed with that vision in mind and is the principle that underpins everything we do. So you will see this statement highlighted and repeated often whenever you come into contact with us.
And with that in mind it is important to ensure that our focus on building best in class technology that everyone can benefit from remains unwavering. As such we are taking a strategic direction to concentrate on the technology aspects of our business. All other activities will be in support of this. We will no longer pursue building our own range of consumer products, which reduces our costs and overall exposure substantially. We will however, license reference designs that we have created. This refocus is more in-line with our core strengths.
We will be re-issuing our offer document so that it better reflects this course we are taking and trust that you will welcome this very important strategic shift.
As if to reinforce that strategic initiative, it was encouraging to see some further patents awarded to Xped during this last week. Our IP portfolio continues to grow and so we shall head into the iAwards national finals in the coming weeks bolstered with this news. It’s always helpful when others are telling us that we are building technology that is innovative, unique and relevant. To that very point, we are seeing some of the industry heavyweights like Apple and Google citing our patents in some of their applications. Clearly we are getting some notice and starting to form ripples that are increasing in reach.
This is no better illustrated by the comments we are getting from the development community. More than 250 ADRC Development Kits were shipped over the last several weeks to innovators around the world. It will be important for Xped to maintain strong relationships with this group as they are the innovators of the future. I’m personally looking forward to seeing what is being built by them. If we can make it easy, and give others the tools by which they are able to innovate, we will all be able to benefit from their creations.
ADRC is now at a commercial phase. While we will continue to develop and enhance our technology, but it is vital now that we turn to the market with a complimentary mindset – how we are to sell or license our technology. As such we are working on bringing the right people on board in key geographic locations. These will be senior executives that I’ve known and worked with in prior roles. We have to get our technology into the market and we have to be there at the front line with people who understand the business, understand the market and know the key people who can make the decisions. I’ll be making some announcements on those efforts shortly.
With our Global Headquarters located in Singapore, Asia continues to be the direction we will look at for immediate growth and so considerable effort is being placed on expanding in that region. We are already seeing the benefits of doing this with collaborative Agreements now in place with a number of firms. This compliments some of the work started in Australia with companies like Tytronics and others.
It’s certainly an exciting time for Xped. We may be a small company at the moment but that does not mean we have to be a small business. We have some worthwhile aspirations and working smartly to realise them. I’m going to be making some regular updates to keep you informed of the progress and would certainly welcome your feedback and questions should you have any. Until then take care.