A CEO taking shots at the competition is nothing new. And getting to do it during a quarterly earnings call where investors and media often amplify the message is a perk for publicly traded companies. If not used judiciously, however, the tactic can backfire.
Over the past few years Gogo CEO Oakleigh Thorne has often taken advantage of the opportunity. As competitors develop new offerings and enter the market Thorne occasionally used the calls to “remind” the industry why Gogo’s options are better or more likely to succeed. Earlier this month Thorne reiterated Gogo’s position that SmartSky‘s solution “is probably about half the speed of our 5G product.”
That’s a bold claim for a system still not flying with production hardware for another year. And also a claim the company has a hard time backing up when pressed.
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Maybe Gogo will eventually deliver better performance than SmartSky when the system goes live. But given its position in the development, deployment, and testing cycle it seems prudent to see these comments more as puffery than gospel.
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Adam Gliowitz says
How much does SS contribute toward this website vs Gogo? I mean premium subscriptions and ads. Be completely honest.
Seth Miller says
Both companies have the same subscription. Neither is an advertiser. I have no problem sharing the good news from either one when they have that available. Nor do I have any problems calling them out for making misleading statements or missing their targets.
I always do appreciate when people assume I’m on the take, though. Real boost to my ego to think that I could be bought off that easily.