I've been watching Norwood for a while and finally decided to try the app in more detail and look at whether they may be worth investing in.
If you are looking for a scathing damnation of NOR’s lack of any material competitive advantage, please read on.
I am in Japan right now, so I tried to get a local number in Japan. No dice, Japanese numbers aren't supported. Oh well, I already have a local phone with SoftBank that I recharge $30 every time I visit. I'm travelling to the US soon, so I had a look at that. $7.99 a month to lease a local number, which you can only use when in wifi (because data roaming is prohibitively expensive). Plus you have to pay for calls. Say you bulk buy 60min upfront - 38c per minute. I'm sorry, those are 1997 rates. You can get 1 month of unlimited calls with 1.5G of data for $30 with Optus, that you don't have to be on wifi to use. Or use Skype. You can buy Skype credit for 2.5c per minute in the US. Please explain to me any advantages Norwood has over Skype. What's that? You can get a local number? Nope, Skype does that too. $60 a year.
If I want to call people I can use whatsapp, for free. Plus, you don't have to give them your local country number whenever you visit somewhere new. Most people already use it. I have made a 30min call to someone using whatsapp, from my car, Australia to Singapore. I could not tell the difference between that and a local call on Telstra.
Why wouldn't you just get a local prepaid SIM in each country? It is generally cheaper and you get to keep the number when you come back - no need to pay $8 per month.
The only advantage Norwood has is that it allows you to have a local number that other locals can ring when you are travelling. You can achieve the same result, usually with better rates, by buying a local prepaid SIM and a cheap phone. Then you can use it without being tethered to wifi. Or just get a Skype number.
Let's turn to the business model. Telcos are great companies to invest in when they turn profitable, as the costs remain semi-fixed as revenues increase on a monthly basis. Norwood’s revenues aren't increasing anywhere near fast enough for me to take a punt before they turn profitable (which I doubt will ever happen), if they do become profitable I will re-evaluate then. BGL and AMM were both profitable when I invested and I tripled my money on both within 3 years.
Sorry guys, this company is a complete dog and I would not invest $1 of my money in it, even if it was trading at 1c per share, which I'm sure is going to be the case in short order.
Yes there are extremely niche uses for Norwood, but not enough to make a worthwhile market. Disaster written all over it, in luminous block letters.
Those who disagree please point out errors in my facts or logic. Rebuttals like “hurr you are just down ramping” or “LOL idiot” do not address the points above. If I have made errors, lets see them.
Expand
