Openwave Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV) plunged in its first day of trading, dropping 8 1/16 to 79 11/16 amid a general slide in technology issues. The drop came despite reports of rosy financial projections from company officials.
Openwave, which was formed by the merger of Phone.com and Software.com, provides Internet-based communication infrastructure software and applications to communication service providers (CSPs). Openwave's target customers include wireless and wired network carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs), portals and broadband network providers.
The Redwood City, California-based company said it has more than 150 customers, who in turn have an aggregate of more than 500 million subscribers.
Phone.com and Software.com agreed to the merger in August, saying they wanted to create a software "powerhouse" for their customers.
On Monday, Openwave executives reportedly predicted that revenue for the quarter ending in December will be 20 to 25 percent above the US$80.8 million reported by the combined companies for the September quarter. License revenue will make up about 70 percent of total revenue, reports said.
Management also reportedly predicted revenue for calendar 2001 at $580 million, and forecast an operating profit for the quarter ending in March, ahead of previous forecasts for reaching operating profit in December 2001.
Openwave is counting on expected explosive growth in the market for wireless software and products. The company provides wireless Internet infrastructure and browsers, unified messaging, mobile e-mail, directory services, voice processing, synchronization and instant messaging.
Phone.com reported a 62 percent increase in revenue for the quarter ended
September 30th, to $46.5 million, as the company posted a net loss of $4.9
million, or 8 cents per share. For the same period, Software.com saw revenue
surge 196 percent to $37.6 million, with net income of $499,000, or a penny
per share. 
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