UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
| x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For fiscal year ended December 31, 2003
OR
| ¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 (NO FEE REQUIRED) |
For the transition period from to .
Commission file number: 0-31659
NOVATEL WIRELESS, INC.
(exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware (State or other jurisdiction or incorporation or organization) |
86-0824673 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
| 9255 Towne Centre Drive, Suite 225, San Diego, California (Address of principal executive offices) |
92121 (zip code) | |
Registrants telephone number, including area code: (858) 320-8800
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Common Stock, par value $.001 per share
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrants knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). YES ¨ NO x
The number of shares of the Registrants common stock outstanding as of March 9, 2004 was 16,104,906.
The aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price of the Common Stock on June 30, 2003 as reported by The Nasdaq SmallCap Market, was approximately $36,140,576. For the purposes of this calculation, shares owned by officers, directors (and their affiliates) and 5% or greater shareholders, based on Schedule 13G filings, have been excluded. This exclusion is not intended, nor shall it be deemed, to be an admission that such persons are affiliates of the Registrant. The Registrant does not have any non-voting stock issued or outstanding.
Documents Incorporated by Reference
None.
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As used in this report on Form 10-K, unless the context otherwise requires, the terms we, us, our, the Company and Novatel Wireless refer to Novatel Wireless, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Forward-Looking Statements
This report contains forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about Novatel Wireless and our industry. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: increasing demand for access to wireless data and factors affecting that demand; the future growth of wireless wide area networking and factors affecting that growth; changes in wireless transmission standards and technologies; growth in 3G infrastructure spending; the sufficiency of our capital resources; the effect of changes in accounting standards and in aspects of our critical accounting policies; and our general business and strategy, including plans and expectations relating to technology, product development, strategic relationships, customers, manufacturing, service activities and international expansion. The words anticipate, believe, expect, intend, plan, project, will and similar words and phrases are also intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, as more fully described elsewhere in this report. For a detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties, see the Business Risks Related to Our Business section of this Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future, except as otherwise required pursuant to our on-going reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Trademarks
The Novatel Wireless logo, Merlin, Freedom Box and Expedite are trademarks of Novatel Wireless, Inc. All other brand names and trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders.
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PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a provider of wireless broadband access solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Our broad range of products includes wireless data modems and software for laptop PCs, embedded wireless modules for original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, and ruggedized wireless data modems for public safety and telemetry applications. Through the integration of our hardware and software, our products are designed to operate on a majority of global wireless networks and provide mobile subscribers with secure and convenient access to data including corporate, public and personal information through the Internet and enterprise networks. We also offer software engineering and design services to our customers to facilitate the use of our products.
Our primary end customers include wireless operators such as AT&T Wireless, China Mobile, Sprint PCS, Telecom Italia Mobile, Telefonica and T-Mobile. We also sell our products domestically and internationally through OEMs such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP), value added resellers, or VARs, such as Beida Jade Bird Group, and distributors such as Hugh Symons. In addition, we have strategic technology, development and marketing relationships with leading companies such as Lucent Technologies, Sprint PCS and International Business Machines (IBM), each of which is also a customer of ours.
Industry Background
Growth of the Wireless Communications Market
The wireless communications market has experienced rapid growth as wireless communications products and services have become widely available and increasingly affordable. This rapid growth has been driven by numerous factors including technological advances, reduced costs for wireless devices, changes in telecommunications regulations and the allocation and licensing of additional radio spectrum. According to a January 2004 report from Gartner Dataquest, an industry research firm, worldwide wireless operators have experienced compound annual revenue and subscriber growth rates of 20.4% and 34.1%, respectively, over the five-year period from 1998 to 2003.
Growth of Wireless Wide Area Networking
While wireless networks have traditionally been used to support voice communications, the industry is currently experiencing an increased demand to support wireless access to data. As a result, solutions for wireless access to data such as Wireless Wide Area Networking (WWAN), Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN, 802.11x, or Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth have become increasingly common. While Bluetooth and WLAN technologies are designed to operate in low mobility or stationary environments, WWAN has the ability to offer broader coverage and increased mobility and roaming capabilities.
IDC, an industry research firm, reported in September of 2003 that WWAN infrastructure spending was $38.4 billion in 2002. We anticipate that future growth in the WWAN market will be driven by several factors, including:
| | Increased Mobility of the Modern Workforce. The increased mobility of the modern workforce and the prevalence of the Internet and e-mail as business tools have increased demand for wireless access to data. Mobility provided by WWAN access solutions has the potential to substantially increase worker productivity away from the office. |
| | Upgrades in Wireless Infrastructure. Over the past several years, wireless operators have been upgrading their networks to support fast and reliable data transmission. As these wireless data services become more broadly available and service plans become more affordable, an increasing number of laptop PCs and other access devices are being designed to use WWAN in order to access data. |
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| | Increased Availability and Sophistication of Mobile Computing Devices. In response to the greater availability of wireless data services, OEMs have introduced a range of devices that incorporate WWAN functionality including laptop PCs, personal digital assistants, or PDAs, and mobile phones. |
Emergence of Next Generation Wireless Networks
WWAN services are provided over wireless communication networks, which operate using several different and evolving transmission standards and radio band frequencies. First-generation, or 1G, analog technology is expected to be phased-out over the next five years. Second-generation, or 2G, wireless technologies include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN). Second generation technologies have been supplemented with 2.5G packet-switched data services, which have extended the life of 2G services by adding wireless data capabilities. These 2.5G technologies include:
| | General Packet Radio Service, or GPRS, is a packet-switched service that allows data to be sent and received over the existing GSM network. With GPRS, subscribers can attain wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to 114 kbps, approximately twice as fast as the maximum connection speed of a standard dial-up wireline connection which is 56.6 kbps. |
| | CDMA 1xRTT provides voice and data capabilities which allow subscribers to attain wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to 153.6 kbps. |
| | Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, or EDGE, further enhances GSM/GPRS by adopting new modulation technology to achieve higher data rates. With EDGE, subscribers can attain wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to 384 kbps. |
The wireless communications industry has developed specifications for third generation, or 3G, standards to accommodate increased data transmission and to allow for faster transmission speeds. According to IDC, 3G infrastructure spending is forecasted to grow at a 51.0% compound annual growth rate from $4.0 billion in 2003 to $16.0 billion in 2007. This significant growth is driven by demand from wireless operators for spectrum efficiencies, increased average revenue per user, or ARPU, reduced subscriber turnover, increased network capacity, lower operating costs and expanded revenue opportunities provided by 3G technologies. 3G technologies include:
| | Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems, or UMTS, is the 3G standard designed to be employed by GSM operators. UMTS is also referred to as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, or W-CDMA. With UMTS, subscribers can attain wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to 384 kbps. |
| | CDMA 1xEV-DO and CDMA 1xEV-DV are the 3G standards designed to be employed by CDMA operators and provide wireless access speeds comparable to wireline DSL services. Subscribers can attain wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps on CDMA 1xEV-DO networks and 3.1 Mbps on CDMA 1xEV-DV networks. |
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Our Products
We offer a wide range of wireless broadband access solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Our products are designed to operate across 2.5G wireless networks, including GPRS and CDMA 1xRTT, and 3G networks, including W-CDMA/UMTS and CDMA 1xEV-DO, using single or multiple radio band frequencies. The following table illustrates our principal product lines and applications:
| Product |
Applications | |
| Wireless PC Card Modems |
||
| Merlin Wireless PC Card for UMTS Merlin Wireless PC Card for CDMA 1xRTT |
Laptop PCs and other platforms supporting PCMCIA interfaces | |
| Merlin Wireless PC Card for GPRS |
||
| Merlin Wireless PC Card for CDMA 1xEV-DO (currently in development) |
||
| Embedded Wireless Modules for OEMs |
||
| Expedite Wireless Embedded Modem for CDMA 1xRTT |
Point of sale terminals, automated teller machines, vehicle and asset tracking and inventory monitoring | |
| Ruggedized Wireless Data Modems |
||
| Freedom Box for GPRS |
Public safety and telemetry | |
| Freedom Box for CDMA 1xRTT |
||
Merlin Wireless PC Card Modems
Our Merlin Wireless PC Card modems provide mobile subscribers with secure and convenient high-speed wireless access to data including corporate, public and personal information through the Internet and enterprise networks. Each of our Merlin Wireless PC Card Modems is approximately the size of a credit card and slides inside standard Type II PC card slots in laptop PCs and other products employing PCMCIA interfaces. All our modems utilize modem manager software and are compatible with a range of devices including laptop PCs, PDAs and mobile phones as well as operating systems including Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, Millennium Edition, XP and Pocket PC. The following is a representative selection of our Merlin Wireless PC Card Modems:
| | The Merlin U530 is a tri-band (900/1800/2100 MHz) wireless PC card modem designed to provide mobile subscribers with high-speed wireless access to data over 3G UMTS networks. The Merlin U530 enables wireless access to data at speeds of up to approximately 384 kbps in UMTS coverage areas and 53.6 kbps in GPRS coverage areas. This product was introduced in March 2003 and was created under a joint development agreement with Lucent Technologies. Commercial sales of the Merlin U530 began in December 2003. |
| | The Merlin C201 is a single band (1900 MHz) wireless PC card modem designed to provide mobile subscribers with high-speed wireless access to data over CDMA 1xRTT networks. The Merlin C201 enables wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to approximately 153.6 kbps in CDMA 1xRTT coverage areas and 14.4 kbps in CDMA circuit-switched coverage areas. Equipped with a built-in antenna for maximum network coverage and enhanced portability, the Merlin C201 also enables two-way Short Messaging Service, or SMS, capabilities allowing subscribers to send and receive text messages for quick person-to-person or group chats from their laptop PCs. |
| | The Merlin G301 Series is a tri-band (900/1800/1900 MHz) wireless PC card modem designed to provide mobile subscribers with wireless access to data over global GSM/GPRS networks. The Merlin G301 enables wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to approximately 53.6 kbps in GPRS coverage areas and 14.4 kbps in GSM coverage areas. The Merlin G301 is equipped with a robust removable antenna to enhance portability and enables SMS capabilities. |
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| | The Merlin G100 is a single band (1900 MHz) wireless PC card modem designed to provide mobile subscribers with wireless access to data over GSM/GPRS networks. The Merlin G100 enables wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to approximately 53.6 kbps in GPRS coverage areas and 14.4 kbps in GSM coverage areas. |
| | The Merlin G201 is a dual band (900/1800 MHz) wireless PC card modem designed to provide mobile subscribers with wireless access to data over GSM/GPRS networks. The Merlin G201 enables wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to approximately 53.6 kbps in GPRS coverage areas and 14.4 kbps in GSM coverage areas. The Merlin G201 is equipped with a robust removable antenna to enhance portability and enables SMS capabilities. |
| | The Merlin V620 is a dual band (800/1900 MHz) wireless PC card modem being designed to provide mobile subscribers with wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to approximately 2.4 Mbps on CDMA 1xEV-DO networks. In February 2004, we announced an agreement with Verizon Wireless to introduce products based on the CDMA 1xEV-DO standard. |
Expedite Embedded Wireless Modules for OEMs
The Expedite C201 Wireless Embedded Modem is a single band wireless module designed for integration into equipment and devices for vertical markets such as inventory monitoring, automated banking, vending machines, vehicle tracking, security, point of sale and other applications. The modem has two separate firmware options to provide high-speed wireless access to data at maximum speeds of up to approximately 153.6 kbps in CDMA 1xRTT coverage areas or 14.4 kbps in CDMA circuit-switched coverage areas. The Expedite C201 enables SMS text messaging and can enhance laptop PCs, handheld devices, tablet PCs and smart phones by providing high-speed wireless access to data including corporate, public and personal information through the Internet and enterprise networks. The modules over-the-air download feature also helps reduce life cycle cost and keeps the product operating at peak performance by allowing firmware upgrades without having to physically recall the unit.
Freedom Box Ruggedized Wireless Data Modems
The Freedom Box family of ruggedized wireless data modems includes the Freedom Box FB 200C for use in CDMA 1xRTT coverage areas and the Freedom Box FB 200G for use in GSM/GPRS coverage areas. The Freedom Box product line is designed to operate in harsh conditions, including extremes of temperature, humidity, vibration and noise. Integrated with its own TCP/IP stack, which facilitates transmission of serial data from non-IP devices, the Freedom Box is a powerful and versatile communications device that enables remote telemetry applications, such as utilities monitoring, traffic measurement and control, public safety applications, environmental monitoring and primary and redundant connectivity for automated teller machines, routers and enterprise servers.
Our Strategy
Our objective is to be the leading provider of wireless broadband access solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. The key elements of our strategy are to:
| | Commercialize Our 3G Products Worldwide. We intend to offer our customers the most advanced 3G products available on the market. To date, we have announced orders for 3G UMTS products from wireless operators such as T-Mobile and Telefonica. Additionally, in February 2004 we announced an agreement with Verizon Wireless to introduce products based on the 3G CDMA 1xEV-DO standard. We intend to continue expanding the rollout of our 3G products with leading wireless operators worldwide. |
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| | Leverage Strategic Relationships with Wireless Industry Leaders. We believe that strategic relationships with wireless industry leaders are critical to our ability to leverage sales opportunities and ensure that our technology investments address customer needs. Through strategic relationships, we increased market penetration by accessing the resources of others, including access to distribution resources, exclusive sales and marketing and insight into future technology and market opportunities. For example, our strategic relationships with wireless industry leaders such as Lucent Technologies allow us to leverage their significant resources, network capabilities and service offerings in order to penetrate operators of 3G UMTS networks. In addition to Lucent Technologies, our strategic relationships include agreements with major wireless operators such as Sprint PCS and leading technology companies such as IBM. |
| | Capitalize on Our Direct Relationships with Wireless Operators. We intend to capitalize on our direct relationships with wireless operators in order to increase our worldwide market position. In Europe, we are working closely with wireless operators of 3G UMTS wireless networks. In North America, we have an agreement with Verizon Wireless to introduce high-speed wireless access products using the 3G CDMA 1xEV-DO standard and we continue to work closely with Sprint PCS on CDMA 1xRTT. In Asia, we intend to strengthen our market presence by continuing to work directly with wireless operators such as China Unicom and China Mobile, or through VARs which provision for operators, by offering comprehensive solutions based on our wireless expertise. |
| | Continue to Target Key Vertical Market Opportunities and Penetrate New Markets. We believe that on-going developments in wireless technologies will create additional vertical market opportunities and more applications for our products. Currently, we market our broadband wireless access solutions to key vertical industry segments by offering innovative products that increase productivity, reduce costs and create operational efficiencies. We are currently working with, among others, AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS in telemetry applications, Commerciant in retail/point of sale, Caltrans in public safety, Puget Sound Energy in utilities and Remote Knowledge (through Suntron) in asset tracking. |
| | Increase the Value of Our Products. We will continue to add new features and functionality to our products and develop new software applications to enhance the overall value and ease of use that our products provide to our customers. For example, we intend to add features such as two-way SMS, voice capabilities, Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, for secure access and Global Positioning System, or GPS, for location monitoring. We also intend to continue to apply our technological expertise to reduce the overall size, weight, cost and power consumption of our products, while increasing their capabilities and performance. |
Customers
Our global end-customer base is comprised of wireless operators, OEMs, VARs, distributors and various companies in other vertical markets. The following is a representative selection of our current end-customer base:
| Wireless Operators |
OEMs, VARs, and Distributors | |
| AT&T Wireless |
Beida Jade Bird Group | |
| Orange |
Computer Discount Warehouse (CDW) | |
| Sprint PCS |
Dell | |
| Telefonica |
HP | |
| T-Mobile |
Hugh Symons | |
| Verizon Wireless |
IBM | |
| Wind |
Remote Knowledge (through Suntron) | |
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Our strong customer relationships provide us with the opportunity to expand our market reach and sales:
| | Wireless Operators. By working closely with our wireless operator customers, we are able to drive demand for our products by combining our expertise in wireless technologies with the operators sales and marketing reach over a global subscriber base. Our operator customers also provide us with important services, including field trial participation, technical support, wireless data marketing and access to additional indirect distribution channels. To leverage these services, we provide operators with early access to new products and technical training. |
| | OEMs, VARs and Distributors. Our OEM customers integrate our products into devices that they manufacture and sell to end-users through their own direct sales forces and indirect distribution channels. Our products are capable of being integrated into a broad range of devices, including but not limited to laptop PCs, vehicle location devices, electric meters, vending machines, industrial equipment and wireless credit processing and point of sale devices. Examples of our OEM customers include Dell, HP and Remote Knowledge. We seek to build strong relationships with our OEM customers by working closely with them and providing application engineering support during the integration of our products. We also work closely with select domestic and international VARs and distributors and view them as important channels for the distribution of our products. Examples of our VARs and distributors include Beida Jade Bird Group in China and Hugh Symons in Europe. |
Strategic Relationships
We continue to develop and maintain strategic relationships with wireless industry leaders. Through strategic relationships, we have been able to increase market penetration by leveraging the resources of our channel partners, including their access to distribution resources, increased sales opportunities and insight into future technology and market opportunities.
Our strategic relationships include technology and marketing relationships with wireless operators, OEM customers that integrate our products into other devices, VARs, distributors and leading technology providers. Our key strategic relationships include:
| | Sprint PCS. Sprint PCS operates an all-digital, nationwide, voice and data wireless network in the United States. In February 2002, we entered into a three-year global agreement under which we develop and provide Sprint PCS with wireless PC card modems that run on Sprint PCS CDMA 1xRTT network as well as on a next generation 3G network. |
| | Verizon Wireless. In January 2004, we entered into an agreement with Verizon Wireless to introduce high-speed wireless access products based on the 3G CDMA 1xEV-DO standard. Under the terms of the agreement, we have agreed to develop and supply products to Verizon Wireless based on the CDMA 1xEV-DO standard, subject to certain conditions. |
| | Lucent Technologies. In June 2002, we entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Lucent to create next generation, wireless data access products designed to provide mobile subscribers with high-speed wireless access to the Internet and corporate intranets over 3G UMTS networks. Under the terms of the agreement, as amended in July 2003, we have developed multi-mode, multi-band UMTS/GPRS wireless PC card modems, and Lucent has contributed research, development and marketing support. |
| | IBM. In September 2002, we entered into a global supply agreement with IBM. Under the terms of this agreement, IBM offers its enterprise customers the option to bundle our wireless broadband access solutions along with their laptop PCs. We intend to continue to work closely with IBM to promote the sales of our products directly into the enterprise marketplace. |
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Sales and Marketing
We sell our wireless broadband access solutions to wireless operators, OEMs, VARs and distributors located worldwide. Most of our sales to wireless operators and OEMs are sold directly through our sales force. We also use an indirect sales distribution model through the use of select VARs and distributors.
In order to maintain strong sales relationships, we provide co-marketing, trade show support and demo units for merchandising. We are also engaged in a wide variety of activities, such as awareness and lead generation programs as well as product marketing. Other marketing initiatives include public relations, seminars, and co-marketing and co-branding with partners.
We are continuing to drive widespread adoption of our products through increased global marketing activities, expansion of our sales team and distribution networks, and continued leverage of our strategic relationships with wireless industry leaders.
Product Development and Research
Our product development efforts are focused on developing innovative wireless broadband access solutions to address opportunities presented by next generation wireless networks and improving the functionality, design and performance of our products. We intend to continue to identify and respond to our customers needs by introducing new product designs with an emphasis on ease-of-use, performance, size, weight, cost and power consumption.
We manage our products through a structured life cycle process, from identifying initial customer requirements through development and commercial introduction to eventual phase-out. During product development, emphasis is placed on time-to-market, meeting industry standards and customer product specifications, ease of integration, cost reduction, manufacturability, quality and reliability.
Our product development efforts leverage our core expertise in the following key technology areas:
| | Advanced Radio Frequency Design. Advanced Radio Frequency, or RF, design is the key technology that determines the performance of wireless devices. We have specialized in 800/900/1800/1900 and 2100 MHz designs for digital cellular, packet data and spread spectrum systems. Our proprietary RF technology contributes to the performance, small size and low cost of our products. |
| | Miniaturization and System Integration. Small systems integration is the integration of application specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, RF and baseband integrated circuits and packaging technologies. The complete wireless modem is packaged into a module less than half the size of a credit card through the use of advanced integrated circuit designs, embedded software modems and multi-layer RF stripline technologies. We will continue to augment our miniaturization technology, working to further reduce the size and cost of current and future products. |
Manufacturing
We outsource the manufacturing of all our products to LG Innotek Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of LG Group, located in South Korea. Under our manufacturing agreement, LG Innotek provides us with services including component procurement, product manufacturing, final assembly, testing, quality control, fulfillment and delivery services.
We outsource our manufacturing in an effort to:
| | focus on our core competencies; |
| | minimize our capital expenditures and lease obligations; |
| | realize manufacturer economies of scale; |
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| | achieve production scalability by adjusting manufacturing volumes to meet changes in demand; and |
| | access best-in-class manufacturing resources. |
We believe that additional assembly line efficiencies are realized due to our product architecture and our commitment to process design. Direct materials for our products consist of tooled parts such as printed circuit boards, molded plastic components, metal components and ASICs, as well as industry-standard components such as transistors, integrated circuits, piezo-electric filters, duplexers, inductors, resistors and capacitors. Many of the components used in our products are similar to those used in cellular telephone handsets, helping to reduce our manufacturing costs through the use of standard components.
Our operations organization manages our relationship with LG Innotek and focuses on improvements in design-for-manufacturing, test procedures, quality, cost optimization and production scheduling.
Intellectual Property
Our wireless broadband access solutions and operations rely on and benefit from our portfolio of intellectual property. We currently own 22 United States patents, four of which are also registered in Canada. In addition, we currently have 28 United States patent applications pending. From time to time we also seek to have our patents registered in selected foreign jurisdictions. The patents that we currently own expire at various times between 2005 and 2020.
We own a number of trademarks and service marks, including Expedite, Merlin, and Freedom Box, each with its accompanying designs, as well as the Novatel Wireless logo.
We license CDMA technology from QUALCOMM Incorporated for integration into our products. These licenses allow us to manufacture CDMA-based wireless modems and to sell or distribute them worldwide. In connection with such sales, we pay royalties to QUALCOMM. The licenses do not have a specified term and may be terminated by us or by QUALCOMM for cause or upon the occurrence of other specified events. In addition, we may terminate the licenses for any reason upon 60 days prior written notice. We have also granted to QUALCOMM a nontransferable, worldwide, nonexclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free license to use, in connection with wireless communications applications, certain intellectual property of ours that is used in our products which incorporate the CDMA technology licensed to us by QUALCOMM. This license allows QUALCOMM to make, use, sell or dispose of such products and the related components.
Competition
The market for wireless broadband access solutions is rapidly evolving and highly competitive. It is likely to continue to be significantly affected by the evolution of new wireless technology standards, new product introductions and the market activities of industry participants. We believe the principal competitive factors impacting the market for our products are form factor, time-to-market, features and functionality, performance, quality, brand and price. To maintain and improve our competitive position, we must continue to develop new products, expand our customer base, grow our distribution network and leverage our strategic relationships.
Our primary competitors include Option International, Sierra Wireless, Sony-Ericsson and Wavecom. We believe that we have advantages over each of our primary competitors due to the technical and engineering design of our products, the broad range of solutions that we offer, the ease-of-use of our products, our ability to adapt our products to specific customer needs and our competitive pricing. As the market for wireless broadband access solutions expands, other entrants may seek to compete with us.
Employees
As of December 31, 2003, we had 80 employees, including nine in sales and marketing, 50 in product development and research, seven in operations, and 14 in general and administrative functions. Our employees are not represented by any collective bargaining unit and we consider our relationship with our employees to be good.
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Risks Related to Our Business
We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and if we are unable to increase our revenue and gross margins, we may continue to incur significant net losses and negative cash flow from operations.
We have incurred significant operating losses and net losses in each annual and quarterly period since our inception. We incurred net losses applicable to common shareholders of $16.0 million for 2003, $53.5 million for 2002 and $91.0 million for 2001. In addition, we had negative cash flows from operations of $0.4 million for 2003, $28.7 million for 2002 and $55.4 million for 2001. As of December 31, 2003, we had an accumulated deficit of $246.4 million. If we are unable to increase our revenue and gross margins sufficiently to offset our expenses, we will not achieve profitability and our operating losses, net losses and negative cash flow from operations will continue.
If we experience negative cash flow from operations, we may need to raise additional capital to fund our working capital requirements and anticipated capital expenditures.
We have experienced negative cash flow from operations in the past and have only recently become cash flow positive. We currently anticipate that budgeted cash flow from operations, together with our current working capital, including cash received in the private placement transaction we completed in January 2004, will be sufficient to meet our working capital requirements and anticipated capital expenditures for the next twelve months. However, the forecast of our ability to meet working capital requirements and anticipated capital expenditures in the future is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties and actual results could vary. Our budgeted cash flow from operations include assumptions about increased sales volumes. If we are unable to increase our revenue and gross margins sufficiently to offset our operating expenses, we will continue to experience negative cash flow from operations and may be required to raise additional capital. Our ability to obtain additional capital will depend on financial market conditions, investor expectations for the wireless technology industry, the national economy and other factors outside our control. If we issue equity securities, our stockholders will experience dilution. There can be no assurance that any such additional financing will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If needed, the failure to secure additional financing would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our failure to predict and comply with evolving industry standards, including 3G standards, could hurt our ability to introduce and sell new products.
In our industry, it is critical to our success that we accurately anticipate evolving wireless standards and that our products comply with such standards. We are currently focused on manufacturing and engineering products that comply with 3G wireless standards. Any failure of our products to comply with 3G or future standards could delay their introduction and require costly and time-consuming engineering changes. Additionally, if wireless operators or subscribers fail to adopt the standards to which we engineer our products, then sales of our new products could be materially harmed.
If we fail to develop and introduce new products successfully, we may lose key customers or product orders and may not be able to compete effectively.
The development of new products requires technological innovation and can be difficult, lengthy and costly. In addition, wireless operators require that wireless data systems deployed on their networks comply with their own standards, which may differ from the standards of other operators. If we fail to complete the development of products on time and within budgeted amounts, we will be unable to introduce new products into the market on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, as we introduce new versions of our existing products or new products altogether, our current customers may not require the technological innovations of these products and may not purchase them.
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Further, as part of our strategy, we enter into contracts with customers pursuant to which we develop products for later sale to the customer. Our ability to generate future revenue under any such contracts depends upon our ability to develop products in a cost effective manner that meet defined specifications and are suitable for manufacturing. Our ability to maximize the benefits of these contracts depends in part on the following:
| | We have priced these contracts based on our estimated production costs. If our actual production costs are higher than our estimated costs, our gross margins on the corresponding contracts will decrease. |
| | If we are unable to commit the necessary resources or are otherwise unable to successfully develop products as required by the terms of these contracts, our customers may cancel the related contracts, we may not be entitled to recover any costs that we incurred for research and development, sales and marketing, production and otherwise, and we may be subject to additional costs such as contractual penalties. |
| | If we fail to deliver in a timely manner a product that is suitable for manufacture or if a customer determines that a product we delivered does not meet the agreed-upon specifications, we may have to reduce the price we can charge for such product, or we may be required to pay damages to the customer. |
If we are unable to successfully manage these risks or meet required deadlines in connection with one or more of our key contracts, we may lose key customers or orders and our business could be harmed.
The wireless communications market is highly competitive, and we may be unable to compete effectively.
The markets for wireless data access products are highly competitive, and we expect competition to increase. Many of our competitors or potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do. These competitors may be able to respond more rapidly than we can to new or emerging technologies or changes in customer requirements. They also may devote greater resources than we do to the development, promotion and sale of their respective products.
Many of our current or potential competitors have more extensive customer bases and broader customer relationships and industry relationships that they can leverage to establish relationships with many of our current and potential customers. These companies also have more established customer support and professional services organizations. In addition, these companies may adopt aggressive pricing policies or offer more attractive terms to customers, may bundle their competitive products with broader product offerings and may introduce new products and enhancements. Current and potential competitors may establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties to enhance their products. As a result, it is possible that new competitors or relationships among competitors may emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share.
Our wireless communications products compete with a variety of devices, including wireless modems, wireless handsets, wireless handheld computing devices and other wireless devices. Our current and potential competitors include:
| | wireless data modem providers, such as Option International, Sierra Wireless, Sony-Ericsson and Wavecom; |
| | wireless device manufacturers, such as palmOne and Research in Motion; and |
| | wireless handset manufacturers, such as Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony-Ericsson. |
We expect our competitors to continue to improve the performance of their current products and to introduce new products, services and technologies. For instance, new models of laptop PCs and handheld computing devices could include internal wireless modems installed by the manufacturer which would reduce the need for consumers to purchase our aftermarket wireless modem products. Successful new product introductions or enhancements by our competitors could reduce our sales and the market acceptance of our products, cause intense price competition and make our products obsolete. To be competitive, we must continue to invest
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significant resources in research and development, sales and marketing, and customer support. We cannot be sure that we will have sufficient resources to make these investments or that we will be able to make the technological advances necessary to remain competitive. Increased competition could result in price reductions, fewer customer orders, reduced margins and loss of our market share. Our failure to compete successfully could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to develop and maintain strategic relationships, we may not be able to penetrate new markets.
A key element of our business strategy is to penetrate new markets by developing new products through strategic relationships with industry leaders in wireless communications. We are currently investing, and plan to continue to invest, significant resources to develop these relationships. We believe that our success in penetrating new markets for our products will depend, in part, on our ability to maintain these relationships and to cultivate additional or alternative relationships. We cannot assure you that we will be able to develop additional strategic relationships, that existing relationships will survive and successfully achieve their purposes or that the companies with whom we have strategic relationships will not form competing arrangements.
We depend upon a small number of our customers for a substantial portion of our revenue and we currently rely upon a few of our key customers to make contractual minimum volume purchases.
A significant portion of our revenue comes from a small number of customers. Our top ten customers for 2003 and 2002 accounted for approximately 94.7% and 84.6% of our revenue, respectively. For 2003, Sprint PCS and Lucent accounted for approximately 55.0% and 29.8% of our revenue, respectively. For 2002, Sprint PCS and @Road accounted for approximately 46.5% and 7.0% of our revenue, respectively. We expect that a small number of customers will continue to account for a substantial portion of our revenue. If there is a downturn in the business of one or more of our current customers, or if one or more of our current customers files for bankruptcy or becomes insolvent, such as occurred with respect to two of our former significant customers in 2001, our revenue may decline. Similarly, our revenue could be adversely affected if we are unable to retain the business of any of our significant customers or if we are unable to diversify our customer base.
Some of our key customers are currently obligated to make minimum volume purchases pursuant to contracts. Following the expiration of such obligations, those customers will not be obligated to make any purchases of our products. In addition, a majority of our customers purchase our products under purchase orders and not pursuant to any contractual minimum purchase obligations. Such customers have no contractual obligation to purchase our products and if they do not continue to make purchases, our revenue and our share price may decline.
The sale of our products depends on the demand for broadband wireless access to enterprise networks and the Internet.
The markets for broadband wireless access solutions are relatively new and rapidly evolving, both technologically and competitively, and the successful sale of related products and services depends in part on the demand for wireless access to enterprise networks and the Internet. In the past, market demand for both wireless products and wireless access services for the transmission of data has developed at a slower rate than we anticipated and our product sales have not generated sufficient revenue to cover our operating costs. The failure of these markets to continue to grow may adversely impact the demand for our products, and as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.
The marketability of our products may suffer if wireless telecommunications operators do not deliver acceptable wireless services.
The success of our business depends on the capacity, affordability and reliability of wireless data networks provided by various wireless telecommunications operators. Currently, various wireless telecommunications
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operators such as Sprint PCS, either directly or jointly with us, sell our products in connection with the sale of their wireless data services to their customers. Growth in demand for wireless data access may be limited if wireless telecommunications operators cease operations, fail to offer services which customers consider valuable, fail to maintain sufficient capacity to meet demand for wireless data access, delay the expansion of their wireless networks and services, fail to offer and maintain reliable wireless network services or fail to market their services effectively. In addition, our future growth depends on the successful deployment of next generation wireless data networks provided by third parties, including those networks for which we are currently developing products. If these next generation networks are not deployed or widely accepted, or if deployment is delayed, there will be no market for the products we are developing to operate on these networks. If any of these occurs, or if for any other reason the demand for wireless data access fails to grow, sales of our products will decline and our business could be harmed.
If we do not properly manage the growth of our business, we may experience significant strains on our management and disruptions in our business.
Various risks arise when companies and industries grow quickly. If our business grows, our ability to meet customer demand in a timely and efficient manner could be challenged. We may also experience production delays as we seek to meet increased demand for our products. Our failure to manage our growth could negatively impact our ability to execute on our operating plan and, accordingly, could have an adverse impact on our business, our cash flow and results of operations and our reputation with our customers.
We depend on a single third-party manufacturer to produce all of our products which subjects us to potential disruptions in product supply and other potential adverse effects.
We currently outsource the manufacture of all of our products to LG Innotek. We expect to continue to depend exclusively on LG Innotek or other third-party manufacturers to produce our products in a timely fashion and at satisfactory quality levels. LG Innotek is not obligated to supply products to us for any specific quantity, except as may be provided in particular purchase orders which we submit to them from time to time, and therefore could cease or reduce its business with us at its discretion. If LG Innotek experiences delays, disruptions, capacity constraints or quality control problems in their manufacturing operations, product shipments to our customers could be delayed, which would negatively impact our revenues and our competitive position and reputation. Further, if we are unable to manage successfully our relationship with LG Innotek, the quality and availability of our products may be harmed. If LG Innotek stopped manufacturing our products for any reason or reduced its manufacturing capacity, we may be unable to replace the lost manufacturing capacity on a timely basis, which would adversely impact our operations. In addition, if LG Innotek negatively changes the payment and other terms under which it agrees to manufacture for us and we are unable to locate a suitable alternative manufacturer, our manufacturing costs could significantly increase.
Because we outsource the manufacture of all of our products, the cost, quality and availability of third-party manufacturing operations are essential to the successful production and sale of our products. Our reliance on third-party manufacturers exposes us to a number of risks which are outside our control, including:
| | unexpected increases in manufacturing costs; |
| | interruptions in shipments if a third-party manufacturer is unable to complete production in a timely manner; |
| | inability to control quality of finished products; |
| | inability to control delivery schedules; |
| | inability to control production levels and to meet minimum volume commitments to our customers; |
| | inability to control manufacturing yield; |
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| | inability to maintain adequate manufacturing capacity; and |
| | inability to secure adequate volumes of components. |
We generally place orders with LG Innotek at least three months prior to scheduled delivery of products to our customers. Accordingly, if we inaccurately anticipate demand for our products, we may be unable to obtain adequate quantities of components to meet our customers delivery requirements or, alternatively, we may accumulate excess inventories. If one or more of these events were to occur, we could experience increased costs, reduced revenue and lower product margins.
Although we promote ethical business practices and our operations personnel periodically visit and monitor the operations of LG Innotek, we do not control LG Innotek or their labor practices. If LG Innotek, or any other third-party manufacturer which we use in the future, violates United States or foreign laws or regulations, we may be subjected to extra duties, significant monetary penalties, adverse publicity, the seizure and forfeiture of products that we are attempting to import or the loss of our import privileges. The effects of these factors could render the conduct of our business in a particular country undesirable or impractical and have a negative impact on our operating results.
We depend on sole source suppliers for some of our components, and our product availability and sales would be harmed if any of these suppliers are not able to meet our demand and alternative components are not available.
Our products contain a variety of components, many of which are procured from single suppliers. These components include both tooled parts and industry-standard parts, many of which are also used in cellular telephone handsets. From time to time, certain components used in our products have been in short supply worldwide. If there is a shortage of any such components, we may not be able to deliver sufficient quantities of our products to satisfy demand. The cost, quality and availability of components are essential to the successful production and sale of our products. Some of these components come from sole or single source suppliers for which alternative components may not be available. If suppliers are unable to meet our demand for sole source components and if we are unable to obtain an alternative source or if the price for a substitute is prohibitive, our ability to maintain timely and cost-effective production of our products would be seriously harmed.
We may not be able to license necessary third-party technology or it may be expensive to do so.
From time to time, we may be required to license technology from third parties to develop new products or product enhancements. We have licensed software for use in our products from third-parties, such as QUALCOMM. The license from QUALCOMM does not have a specified term and may be terminated by us or by QUALCOMM for cause or upon the occurrence of other specified events. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain our third-party licenses or that additional third-party licenses will be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The inability to maintain or obtain any third-party license required to develop new products and product enhancements could require us to obtain substitute technology of lower quality or performance standards or at greater cost which could seriously harm our competitive position, revenue and growth prospects.
We are subject to the risks of doing business abroad, which could negatively affect our international operations and sales and our ability to obtain products from foreign manufacturers.
All of our products are manufactured in South Korea by our sole, third-party manufacturer, LG Innotek, and many of the components used by LG Innotek in the manufacture of our products are produced outside the United States. In addition, we have international operations and sales, and a significant portion of our research and development staff is located in Canada. Our international sales accounted for approximately 23.1% of our revenue for 2003. Although our experience in marketing, selling, distributing and manufacturing our products
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and services internationally is limited, we expect to further expand our international sales and marketing activities in the future. Consequently, we are subject to certain risks associated with doing business abroad, including:
| | changes in international currency exchange rates; |
| | changes in a specific countrys or regions political or economic conditions, particularly in emerging markets, and changes in diplomatic and trade relationships; |
| | less effective protection of intellectual property and general exposure to different legal standards; |