Exclusive Interview with the Founder of MacRumors.com
Although the Dot-Com boom led to the demise of thousands of online ventures, some sites made it past the rise and fall to amass an impressive following. In the latest craze of blogging and internet news, MacRumors.com, which delivers up to the minute rumors and news out of Apple (AAPL), is a perfect example of a successful, low cost start-up, which eventually evolved into one of the top sites on the internet.
This is the exclusive one-on-one interview with the Founder of MacRumors.com, Arnold Kim.
Market Matador: When did you start MacRumors.com?
Kim: The domain was registered February 24th, 2000 and the site went up probably a day or two later.
Market Matador: What was your inspiration and motivation to start the site?
Kim: The structure of the site was originally modeled off of Slashdot, and based on an early version of PHP Slash (port of Slashcode). The motivation behind it was just personal interest and I followed the mac rumor scene regularly. At the time, there were only a couple of true rumor sites around, and traditional mac media who tended to avoid all rumors. Somewhere in between, there would be patent applications, tidbits buried in news stories, etc., which would get a lot of discussion on user forums, but never much exposure. MacRumors sprang up to keep track of these sort of interesting tidbits and reports.
Market Matador: What kind of education do you have? Has the site become a full-time career?
Kim: I'm a college graduate, and went to medical school. I'm a physician in "real life," this remains a side project.
Market Matador: Do you have a staff, or are you single-handedly working on the site?
Kim: There's a group of dedicated moderators, admins and another editor that keeps the site running smoothly.
Market Matador: On average, how much time do you dedicate to the site per day?
Kim: Quite simply, the time varies. Obviously WWDC weeks tend to be busier. It generally just takes as much time as I give it. It's also hard to draw the line. If I didn't run MacRumors, I'm not sure how much of my day to day browsing would change.
Market Matador: When did you first feel that the site began to catch on?
Kim: That's an interesting question, because in some ways I feel like its still catching on. Keynote periods are definitely reminders of how popular the site can be.
Market Matador: What kind of traffic does the site currently achieve? We’ve noticed that you’ve recently added DIGGing capabilities to the site. Has it made for large surges in traffic?
Kim: Stats are a funny thing, and hard to interpret. I guess it's safest to say that we are well into the millions of page views a month and a Digg story doesn't really make a noticeable strain on the server. I did add Digg buttons recently, and it certainly has driven a lot of traffic. But the reason for it wasn't purely for the traffic. Digg has a large readership amongst other site owners and bloggers. Getting your story on Digg gives you "credit" for that story. It's a bit of a game. Even if you break a story, if someone else's story gets on the front page of Digg, they'll get the "credit."
Market Matador: We’ve noticed that you have been on CNBC at least once. How did you begin to get TV time?
Kim: They just called one day and I agreed. I guess it is a measure of how popular the site has become, but also a measure of how popular Apple has become in the mainstream media.
Market Matador: Do you have a Mac and any plans to buy an iPhone?
Kim: Yes, I have a Mac Pro 2.66GHz and yes, I will buy an iPhone as soon as possible.
Market Matador: You’ve heard of the possibility of a secret application that’s been unannounced inside the iPhone, any theories?
Kim: I think people have read too much into it. It's not like the iPhone is necessarily a fixed set of applications. It's already been said that some more Google apps are coming, and Apple has said they themselves are planning on releasing more apps down the line. So, whether there was an extra icon in place doesn't tell us any more than we knew.
Market Matador: What do you hope to see for the future of Macrumors.com?
Kim: I think more of the same, and continued growth. On initial glance, MacRumors seems just a place for Apple news and rumors, but there's a large and active Apple community behind it. I'd like that aspect of it to continue to grow and evolve.
Thank you very much Arn and we hope you all enjoyed the interview!
Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Profiting from the Impending Water Crisis
On April 15th, 2007, MarketMatador.com published a detailed article about the "impending water crisis." We've decided to republish the article in an effort to better educate both investors and consumers. Please understand that some prices, P/Es, and quotes may be dated.
About 70 percent of the Earth is made up of water. 2 percent of that water is "fresh water," of which 1.6% is locked in the polar ice caps. In other words, only a small percentage of Earth's water can be used by humans. Even more disturbing, 1 billion of today's population doesn't have clean drinking water. The lack of clean water is also a leading cause of diseases today. In Iraq, the United Nations is reporting that the decrease in proper drinking water is leading to an increase death rate in children from diarrhea. In 40 years, India will have outstripped the available drinking water from the country. Investors have the opportunity to make money, and at the same time, make an incredible difference to the world around them.
There are a number of water resource companies currently traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchanges. Even more numerous are the number of different industries and plays in the water sector as a whole. Watts Water Technologies (WTS) designs, manufactures and markets an extensive line of valves for plumbing, heating and water quality markets. The stock trades at a relatively down-to-earth P/E of 17.2. Watts currently has operations in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Franklin Electric Co. (FELE) trades at a slightly higher P/E of 18.4. Franklin manufactures and designs motors, electronic controls and related parts and equipment. Ultimately, those parts are used in the construction and usage of water transportation. Agilent Technologies (A) is the maker of water testing and bioscience materials. Agilent is responsible for a reasonable amount of testing and proper purification of water supplies. The company trades at a P/E of 21.5 and seems to be a bit pricey as of right now.
Investors most difficult decision is, "which one?" Which water related company will return the most, while also helping the current crisis? A decision doesn't need to be made, and even better, investors can make a safer, more conservative play.
AMEX traded, PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio (PHO) is the best play for the entire sector. It's top ten holdings are: Watts Water Technologies, Cia de Saneamento Basico, United Utilities, Layne Christensen Company, Franklin Electric Company, Insituform Technologies, Nalco Holdings Company, Mueller Water Products, and Agilent Technologies. As with any ETF, the portfolio offers comprehensive coverage of the complex water sector.
Currently trading at around $19.00 a share, the index seeks to identify a group of companies that focus on the provision of potable water, the treatment of water, and the technology and service that are directly related to water consumption. The index has returned about 26.3% since inception in late 2005. Because of the nature of indexes, funds, and in general, ETFs, buying in can be a much easier task. At these levels around $19.00, investors can safely make a purchase in the index. Usually, the ETF trades at a rather nonvolatile level throughout the trading day, which ultimately may solve the issues that may arise in the water industry as a whole.
Disclosure: No conflicts.