Public companies are required to disclose risks that can affect the business and impact the stock. These disclosures are known as “Risk Factors”. Companies disclose these risks in their yearly (Form 10-K), quarterly earnings (Form 10-Q), or “foreign private issuer” reports (Form 20-F). Risk factors show the challenges a company faces. Investors can consider the worst-case scenarios before making an investment. TipRanks’ Risk Analysis categorizes risks based on proprietary classification algorithms and machine learning.

Sonim Technologies disclosed 56 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Sonim Technologies reported the most risks in the “Finance & Corporate” category.

Risk Overview Q3, 2023

Risk Distribution

32% Finance & Corporate

16% Legal & Regulatory

16% Ability to Sell

14% Tech & Innovation

13% Production

9% Macro & Political

Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy

This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.

Risk Change Over Time

2020

S&P500 Average

Sector Average

Risks removed

Risks added

Risks changed

Sonim Technologies Risk Factors

New Risk (0)

Risk Changed (0)

Risk Removed (0)

No changes from previous report

The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.

The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.

Risk Highlights Q3, 2023

Main Risk Category

Finance & Corporate

With 18 Risks

Finance & Corporate

With 18 Risks

Number of Disclosed Risks

No changes from last report

S&P 500 Average: 31

No changes from last report

S&P 500 Average: 31

Recent Changes

2Risks added

0Risks removed

1Risks changed

Since Sep 2023

2Risks added

0Risks removed

1Risks changed

Since Sep 2023

Number of Risk Changed

From last report

S&P 500 Average: 3

From last report

S&P 500 Average: 3

See the risk highlights of Sonim Technologies in the last period.

Risk Word Cloud

The most common phrases about risk factors from the most recent report. Larger texts indicate more widely used phrases.

Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 56

Finance & Corporate

Total Risks: 18/56 (32%)Below Sector Average

Share Price & Shareholder Rights8 | 14.3%

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1

Changed

We have failed, and may continue to fail, to meet the listing standards of Nasdaq, and as a result, our common stock may become delisted, which could have a material adverse effect on the trading, liquidity, and market price of our common stock.

We must satisfy Nasdaq's continued listing requirements, including, among other things, a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share and timely filing of all periodic financial reports, or risk delisting, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. On September 14, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that, because the bid price for our common stock has fallen below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, we no longer comply with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the "Bid Price Rule") for continued listing. In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were provided a period of 180 calendar days, or through March 12, 2024, to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. To regain compliance, the closing bid price of the Company's common stock must be at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten (10) consecutive business days as required under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) (unless the Nasdaq staff exercises its discretion to extend this 10-day period pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(H)) during the 180-day period). If Sonim does not regain compliance during this 180-day period, then the Nasdaq staff may grant a second 180 calendar day period to regain compliance, provided Sonim meets the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq Capital Market, with the exception of the bid price requirement. In addition, we would be required to notify Nasdaq of our intent to cure the minimum bid price deficiency during the second compliance period, which may include, if necessary, implementing a reverse stock split. To qualify, the Company would be required, among other things, to meet the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares as well as all other standards for initial listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market, with the exception of the bid price requirement, and would need to provide written notice of its intention to cure the bid price deficiency during the second compliance period. However, if it appears to Nasdaq staff that we will not be able to cure the deficiency, or if we are otherwise not eligible for the additional compliance period, and we do not regain compliance by the Compliance Date, the Nasdaq Capital Market will provide written notification to us that our common stock is subject to delisting. At that time, we may appeal the delisting determination to a hearings panel pursuant to the procedures set forth in the applicable Nasdaq Listing Rules. However, there can be no assurance that, if Sonim does appeal the delisting determination by Nasdaq to the panel, such appeal would be successful. This is not the first instance of Sonim's non-compliance with the Bid Price Rule. We intend to actively monitor the closing bid price of our common stock and, as appropriate, will consider available options to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule, including potentially seeking to effect a reverse share split, if necessary. There can be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with respect to the current deficiency including by effecting a reverse share split, or that we will be able to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq Capital Market continued listing requirements in the future or regain compliance with respect to any future deficiencies. In the event we are delisted from Nasdaq, the only established trading market for our common stock would be eliminated, and we would be forced to list our shares on the OTC Markets or another quotation medium, depending on our ability to meet the specific listing requirements of those quotation systems. As a result, an investor would likely find it more difficult to trade or obtain accurate price quotations for our shares. Delisting would likely also reduce the visibility, liquidity, and value of our common stock, reduce institutional investor interest in our company, and may increase the volatility of our common stock. Delisting could also cause a loss of confidence of potential industry partners, lenders, and employees, which could further harm our business and our future prospects.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2

We are an "emerging growth company" and we cannot be certain whether the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an "emerging growth company" as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not "emerging growth companies" including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception these sales might occur, could cause our stock price to decline.

The market price of our common stock could decrease significantly as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock in the public market, and the perception that these sales could occur may also depress the market price of our common stock. Certain stockholders are entitled, under our investors' rights agreement, to require us to register shares owned by them for public sale in the United States, including the registration rights agreement dated July 13, 2022, by and between the Company and AJP Holding Company, LLC. In addition, we filed a registration statement to register shares issued under our equity compensation plans. As a result, subject to the satisfaction of applicable vesting periods, the shares issued upon exercise of outstanding stock options or upon settlement of outstanding RSU awards will be available for immediate resale in the United States in the open market. A decline in the price of shares of our common stock might impede our ability to raise capital through the issuance of additional shares of our common stock or other equity securities.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4

Unless our common stock continues to be listed on a national securities exchange it will become subject to the so-called "penny stock" rules that impose restrictive sales practice requirements.

If we are unable to maintain the listing of our common stock on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange, our common stock could become subject to the so-called "penny stock" rules if the shares have a market value of less than $5.00 per share. The SEC has adopted regulations that define a penny stock to include any stock that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions, including an exception for stock traded on a national securities exchange. The SEC regulations impose restrictive sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell penny stocks to persons other than established customers and accredited investors. An accredited investor generally is a person whose individual annual income exceeded $200,000, or whose joint annual income with a spouse exceeded $300,000 during the past two years and who expects their annual income to exceed the applicable level during the current year, or a person with net worth in excess of $1.0 million, not including the value of the investor's principal residence and excluding mortgage debt secured by the investor's principal residence up to the estimated fair market value of the home, except that any mortgage debt incurred by the investor within 60 days prior to the date of the transaction shall not be excluded from the determination of the investor's net worth unless the mortgage debt was incurred to acquire the residence. For transactions covered by this rule, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and must have received the purchaser's written consent to the transaction prior to sale. This means that if we are unable maintain the listing of our common stock on a national securities exchange, the ability of stockholders to sell their common stock in the secondary market could be adversely affected. If a transaction involving a penny stock is not exempt from the SEC's rule, a broker-dealer must deliver a disclosure schedule relating to the penny stock market to each investor prior to a transaction. The broker-dealer also must disclose the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and its registered representative, current quotations for the penny stock, and, if the broker-dealer is the sole market-maker, the broker-dealer must disclose this fact and the broker-dealer's presumed control over the market. Finally, monthly statements must be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the customer's account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5

The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate or decline, resulting in substantial loss of your investment.

The market price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to, among other things, the factors described in this "Risk Factors" section or otherwise, and other factors beyond our control, such as fluctuations in the valuations of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us. Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market fluctuations, as well as general economic, systemic, political and market conditions, such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock. The trading price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and subject to wide price fluctuations in response to various factors, including: - market conditions in the broader stock market in general, or in our industry in particular; - actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial and operating results; - introduction of new products and services by us or our competitors; - sales, or anticipated sales, of large blocks of our stock; - issuance of new or changed securities analysts' reports or recommendations; - failure of industry or securities analysts to maintain coverage of our company, changes in financial estimates by any industry or securities analysts that follow our company, or our failure to meet such estimates; - additions or departures of key personnel; - regulatory or political developments; - changes in accounting principles or methodologies; - acquisitions by us or by our competitors; - litigation and governmental investigations; and - economic, political and geopolitical conditions or events. These and other factors may cause the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate substantially, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares of common stock and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common stock. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have often instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the U.S. federal district courts as the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. We will seek to enforce these provisions.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision. The Delaware Supreme Court recently determined that the exclusive forum provision of federal district courts of the United States of America for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act is permissible and enforceable under Delaware law, reversing an earlier decision from the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware that had ruled that such provisions were not enforceable. In light of the Delaware Supreme Court determination that Delaware law permits exclusive federal forum provisions, we have sought to enforce the exclusive federal forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation including in pending litigation. Enforcement of this provision could result in additional costs. If we face relevant litigation and are unable to enforce this provision, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, employees, agents or trustees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee of ours arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in each such case subject to such Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock will be deemed to have notice of, and consented to, the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation described in the preceding sentence. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, this exclusive forum provision will not apply to claims which are vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or for which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware does not have subject matter jurisdiction. For instance, the provision would not apply to actions arising under federal securities laws, including suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder, jurisdiction over which is exclusively vested by statute in the U.S. federal courts. This exclusive choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8

Some provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may delay or prevent a change in control and may discourage bids for our common stock at a premium over its market price.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide for, among other things: - the authorization of undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without stockholder approval; - advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals; and - certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings. These anti-takeover defenses could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and cause us to take other corporate actions than you desire. Additionally, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL. These provisions prohibit large stockholders, in particular a stockholder owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock, from consummating a merger or combination with a corporation unless this stockholder receives board approval for the transaction or 66 2/3% of the shares of voting stock not owned by the stockholder approve the merger or transaction. These provisions of DGCL may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control, and may discourage bids for our common stock at a premium over its market price.

Accounting & Financial Operations5 | 8.9%

Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1

We have identified one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting which, if not remediated, could result in material misstatements in our financial statements.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As of December 31, 2021, we have identified one material weakness in internal control over financial reporting that pertain to (i) a deficiency in the design and implementation of IT general controls, including elevated (administrator) access to financial reporting systems and subsystems, which are not appropriately restricted and segregated. Although we have developed and implemented a plan to remediate the material weakness, we cannot assure you that this will occur within a specific timeframe. The material weakness will not be remediated until all necessary internal controls have been designed, implemented, tested and determined to be operating effectively. In addition, we may need to take additional measures to address the material weakness or modify the planned remediation steps, and we cannot be certain that the measures we have taken, and expect to take, to improve our internal controls will be sufficient to address the issues identified, to ensure that our internal controls are effective or to ensure that the identified material weakness- will not result in a material misstatement of our consolidated financial statements. Moreover, we cannot assure you that we will not identify additional material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Until we remediate the material weakness, our ability to record, process and report financial information accurately, and to prepare financial statements within the time periods specified by the rules and forms of the SEC, could be adversely affected. This failure could negatively affect the market price and trading liquidity of our common units, cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, subject us to civil and criminal investigations and penalties and generally materially and adversely impact our business and financial condition.

Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2

Added

The financial and operational projections that we may provide from time to time are subject to inherent risks.

The projections and timelines that our management may provide from time to time (including with respect to financial or operational matters and the expansion of our product portfolio and business lines) reflect numerous assumptions made by our management with respect to our specific, as well as general business, economic, market and financial conditions, including our ability to correctly assess the demand to such products from different consumers and other matters, all of which may be difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, there is a risk that the assumptions made in preparing the projections, or the projections themselves, will prove inaccurate or that our organic growth and expansion may be curtailed. You should be prepared for differences between actual and projected results from time to time. Our future actual results may be materially different from those contained in our projections, both as to amounts and as to timing. The inclusion of projections or timelines in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or any other filing we make with the SEC or otherwise communicated to investors by us should not be regarded as an indication that we or our management or representatives considered or consider such projections and timelines to be a reliable prediction of future events, and the projections and timelines should not be relied upon as such.

Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3

Our quarterly results may vary significantly from period to period, which could make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below investor, analyst or our expectations.

Our quarterly results and, in particular, our revenue, gross margins, operating expenses, operating margins and net income (loss), have historically varied significantly from period to period and may continue to do so in the future. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Our budgeted expense levels are based, in large part, on our expectations of future revenue and the development efforts associated with that future revenue. Due to our smaller scale compared to many of our customers, we are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of changes in these customers' order forecasts. Consequently, if our revenue does not meet projected levels in the short-term, our inventory levels, cost of goods sold and operating expenses would be high relative to revenue, resulting in potential operating losses. If our revenue or operating results do not meet the expectations of investors, the price of our common stock may decline substantially. Factors that may contribute to fluctuations in our quarterly results, many of which are outside our control and may be difficult to predict, include: - fluctuations in demand, sales cycles and prices for products and services, including discounts given in response to competitive pricing pressures or to secure long-term customer relationships, as well as the timing of purchases by our key customers; - fluctuations in our customer, product or geographic mix, including the impact of new customer deployments, which typically carry lower gross margins, customer consolidation, which may affect our ability to grow revenue, and products powered by our next-generation technologies, which initially tend to be lower margin due to higher per unit production costs and greater variability in production yields; - the timing, market acceptance and rate of adoption of our new product releases and our competitors' new product releases; - our ability to manage manufacturing costs, maintain or improve quality, and increase volumes and yields on products; - our ability to successfully restructure or transform our operations within our anticipated time frame and realize our anticipated savings; - the price, quality and timing of delivery of key components from suppliers, including any shipping cost increases or delays in the supply of components, as well as impacts due to consolidations amongst our suppliers; - order cancellations, reductions or delays in delivery schedules by our customers; - any delay in collecting or failure to collect accounts receivable; - our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses and the costs and availability of components we purchase for our products; - any significant changes in the competitive dynamics of the markets we serve, including any new entrants, new technologies, or customer or competitor consolidation, as well as aggressive pricing tactics by our competitors; - our ability to manage inventory while timely meeting customer demand and avoiding charges for excess or obsolete inventory; - the availability of third-party service partners to provide contract development and manufacturing services for us; - the timing of revenue recognition and revenue deferrals; - any future changes in U.S. GAAP or new interpretations of existing accounting rules; - the impact of a significant natural disaster, as well as interruptions or shortages in the supply of utilities such as water and electricity; - general economic and political conditions in domestic and international markets, and other factors beyond our control and - additional developments regarding our intellectual property portfolio and regulatory exclusivity protections, if any

Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 4

We have not been profitable in recent years and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

We have incurred significant net losses since 2013 and have an accumulated deficit of $249.9 million as of December 31, 2022. We are not certain whether or when we will obtain a high enough volume of sales of our products to sustain or increase our growth or achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We also expect our costs to increase in future periods, which would negatively impact our future operating results if our revenues do not increase. In particular, we expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on: - research and development related to our solutions, including investments in our engineering and technical teams; - expansion of our sales and marketing efforts; - general and administrative expenses, including legal and accounting expenses related to being, a public company; and - continued expansion of our business. These investments may not result in increased revenues or growth in our business. Additionally, we have recently and may continue to encounter unforeseen operating expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If we are unable to increase our revenues at a rate sufficient to offset the expected increase in our costs, our business, operating results and financial position may be harmed, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability over the long term or continue as a going concern. Our consolidated financial statements account for the continuation of our business as a going concern. We are subject to the risks and uncertainties associated with the development and release of new products. Our principal sources of liquidity as of December 31, 2022 consist of existing cash and cash equivalents totaling $13.2 million, which includes approximately $14.4 million in net proceeds from a new investor in July and August 2022. The cost structure of the company has been significantly reduced and many aspects of product development and operational support have been outsourced to add additional spending flexibility if needed. Existing capital at December 31, 2022 is expected to allow the company to continue operations for at least the next twelve months. If necessary, we will seek to raise additional capital from new debt. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Additionally, if we issue additional equity securities to raise funds, whether to existing investors or others, the ownership percentage of our existing stockholders would be reduced. New investors may demand rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing holders of common stock. Additionally, we may be limited as to the amount of funds we can raise pursuant to SEC rules and the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market or Nasdaq. If we cannot grow our revenue run-rate or raise needed funds, we might be forced to make additional reductions in our operating expenses, which could adversely affect our ability to implement our business plan and ultimately our viability as a Company.

Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 5

Our consolidated financial statements included a statement that there is a substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern and a continuation of negative financial trends could result in our inability to continue as a going concern.

Our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022, were prepared on the assumption that we would continue as a going concern. Our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022, did not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. As a result of our ongoing net losses, there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern over the next twelve months. The reaction of investors to our potential inability to continue as a going concern, could materially adversely affect the price of our common stock. Additionally, if our projected operating results fail to improve, our liquidity could be further adversely impacted, and we may need to seek additional sources of funding. We are actively pursuing expanding our business and increasing our revenue opportunities while effectively managing business operations and exploring further cost saving opportunities. We may not be successful in these efforts, in which case, we may need to seek to raise additional capital from the sale of equity securities or the incurrence of indebtedness to allow us to invest in growth opportunities. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Additionally, if we issue additional equity securities to raise funds, whether to existing investors or others, the ownership percentage of our existing stockholders would be reduced. New investors may demand rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of existing holders of common stock. We may also be limited as to the amount of funds we can raise pursuant to SEC rules and the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq.

Debt & Financing1 | 1.8%

Debt & Financing - Risk 1

Our liquidity has been adversely impacted by our ongoing net losses, and there is no assurance that we will have sufficient liquidity to continue operations.

We have incurred significant net losses since 2013 and have an accumulated deficit of $249.9 million as of December 31, 2022. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to secure sufficient liquidity to fund our operations, including through additional capital from the sale of equity securities or financings, or that we will be able achieve profitability through cost efficiencies implemented in 2022 and 2021. If we are unable to generate or obtain the requisite amount of financing needed to fund our business operations, our liquidity and ability to continue operations could be materially adversely affected. As a result, we may be required to delay, reduce or cease our operations and we may be required to seek bankruptcy protection.

Corporate Activity and Growth4 | 7.1%

Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1

We continue to restructure and transform our business. The assumptions underlying these efforts may prove to be inaccurate, or we may fail to achieve the expected benefits from these efforts, and we may have to restructure or transform our business again in the future.

In order to be successful, we must have a competitive business model which brings innovative products and services to market in a timely way. We continue to restructure and transform our business in response to changes in industry and market conditions and to focus on business simplification, quality improvement, reduced direct and indirect costs, and new revenue growth. We must manage the potentially higher growth areas of our business, which entail higher operational and financial risks, as well as the non-core areas, in order for us to achieve improved results. Our assumptions underlying these actions may not be correct, we may be unable to successfully execute these plans, and even if successfully executed, our actions may not be effective or may not lead to the anticipated benefits. As a result, we may determine that further restructuring or business transformation will be needed, which could result in the need to record further special charges such as costs associated with workforce reductions, and we may be unable to maintain or improve our market competitiveness or profitability. In connection with the transformation of our business, we have made, and will continue to make, judgments as to whether we should outsource the development and manufacturing of our products. If any of these providers experience (i) difficulties in obtaining sufficient supplies of components, (ii) component prices significantly exceeding anticipated costs, (iii) an interruption in their operations, or (iv) otherwise suffers capacity constraints, we could experience a delay in production and shipping of these products, which would have a negative impact on our revenue. Should there be any disruption in services due to natural disaster, economic or political difficulties, transportation restrictions, acts of terror, quarantines or other restrictions associated with infectious diseases, or other similar events, or any other reason, such disruption could have a material adverse effect on our business. Operating in the international outsourcing environment exposes us to certain inherent risks, including unexpected changes in regulatory requirements and tariffs, and potentially adverse tax consequences, which could materially affect our results of operations. If these providers are unable to achieve greater operational efficiencies, delivery schedules for new product development and current product delivery could be negatively impacted. Currently, we have no second source of manufacturing for a portion of our products. In addition, switching from one provider to another is an expensive, difficult and a time-consuming process, with serious risks to our ability to successfully transfer our development and/or manufacturing operations. If overall demand for our devices increases in the future, we will need to expand our manufacturing capacity in a cost-efficient manner. Our operations, and consequently our revenues and profitability, could be materially adversely affected if we are forced to switch from any of our providers to another provider due to any of a number of factors, including financial difficulties faced by the manufacturer, disagreements in pricing negotiations between us and the manufacturer or organizational changes in the manufacturer. Further, we have made, and will continue to make, judgments as to whether we should further reduce, relocate or otherwise change our workforce We have outsourced substantially all of our manufacturing functions, software development and quality control functions to third parties, transferring the employees who previously performed this work. These reductions may have resulted in the loss of institutional knowledge and expertise and the reallocation and combination of certain roles and responsibilities across the organization, all of which could adversely affect our operations. These restructuring and additional measures we might take to reduce costs could divert management attention, yield attrition beyond our intended reduction in force, reduce employee morale, or cause us to delay, limit, reduce or eliminate certain product development plans, each of which could have an adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Furthermore, our workforce efforts may impair our ability to achieve our current or future business objectives.

Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2

If our business does not grow as we expect, if we fail to manage our growth effectively or if our cost cutting measures are not sufficient our operating results and business would suffer.

Our ability to successfully grow our business depends on a number of factors including our ability to: - accelerate the adoption of our solutions by new end customers; - expand into new vertical markets; - develop and deliver new products and services; - increase awareness of the benefits that our solutions offer; - become more cost effective and scalable by utilizing contract manufacturing. As usage of our solutions grows, we will need to continue to make investments to develop and implement new or updated solutions, technologies, security features and cloud-based infrastructure operations. In addition, we will need to appropriately scale our internal business systems and our services organization, including the suppliers of our detection equipment and customer support services, to serve our growing customer base. Any failure of, or delay in, these efforts could impair the performance of our solutions and reduce customer satisfaction. Further, our growth could increase quickly and place a strain on our managerial, operational, financial and other resources, and our future operating results depend to a large extent on our ability to successfully manage our anticipated expansion and growth. To manage our growth successfully, we will need to continue to invest in sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative functions and other areas. We are likely to recognize the costs associated with these investments earlier than receiving some of the anticipated benefits, and the return on these investments may be lower, or may develop more slowly, than we expect, which could adversely impact our operating results. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, we may not be able to take advantage of market opportunities or develop new solutions or upgrades to our existing solutions, satisfy customer requirements, maintain the quality and security of our solutions or execute on our business plan, any of which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 3

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and distract our management, which could make it difficult to manage our business, particularly after we are no longer an "emerging growth company."

We are required to comply with various regulatory and reporting requirements, including those required by the SEC. Complying with these reporting and other regulatory requirements will be time-consuming and will result in increased costs to us and could have a negative effect on our results of operations, financial condition or business. As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These requirements may place a strain on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we attest to having internal controls over financial reporting. To maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, we will need to commit significant resources, hire additional staff and provide additional management oversight. We will be implementing additional procedures and processes for the purpose of addressing the standards and requirements applicable to public companies. Sustaining our growth also will require us to commit additional management, operational and financial resources to identify new professionals to join our firm and to maintain appropriate operational and financial systems to adequately support expansion. These activities may divert management's attention from other business concerns, which could have a significant adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition or business. As an "emerging growth company" as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend to take advantage of certain temporary exemptions from various reporting requirements including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. In addition, we have elected under the JOBS Act to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates. When these exemptions cease to apply, we expect to incur additional expenses and devote increased management effort toward ensuring compliance with them. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur as a result of becoming a public company or the timing of such costs.

Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 4

We are exposed to risks associated with strategic transactions.

We may consider strategic acquisitions of and combinations with companies with complementary technologies or intellectual property in the future. Acquisitions hold special challenges in terms of successful integration of technologies, products, services and employees. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of these transactions or the benefits of any other acquisitions we have completed or may complete in the future, and we may not be able to incorporate any acquired services, products or technologies with our existing operations, or integrate personnel from the acquired or combined businesses, in which case our business could be harmed. Acquisitions and other strategic transactions involve numerous risks, including: - problems integrating and divesting the operations, technologies, personnel, services or products over geographically disparate locations; - unanticipated costs, taxes, litigation and other contingent liabilities; - continued liability for discontinued businesses and pre-closing activities of divested businesses or certain post-closing liabilities which we may agree to assume as part of the transaction in which a particular business is divested; - adverse impacts on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers; - cannibalization of revenues as customers may seek multi-product discounts; - risks associated with entering into markets in which we have no, or limited, prior experience; - incurrence of significant restructuring charges if acquired products or technologies are unsuccessful;- significant diversion of management's attention from our core business and diversion of key employees' time and resources; - licensing, indemnity or other conflicts between existing businesses and acquired businesses; - inability to retain key customers, distributors, suppliers, vendors and other business relations of the acquired business; and - potential loss of our key employees or the key employees of an acquired organization or as a result of discontinued businesses. Financing for future strategic transactions may not be available on favorable terms, or at all. If we identify an appropriate acquisition or combination candidate for any of our businesses, we may not be able to negotiate the terms of the transaction successfully, finance the transaction or integrate the applicable business, products, service offerings, technologies or employees. Future strategic transactions may not be well-received by the investment community, which may cause the value of our stock to fall. We cannot ensure that we will be able to identify or complete any acquisition, divestiture or discontinued business in the future. Further, the terms of our indebtedness constrain our ability to enter into and finance certain strategic transactions. If we acquire businesses, new products, service offerings or technologies in the future, we may incur significant acquisition-related costs. In addition, we may be required to amortize significant amounts of finite-lived intangible assets and we may record significant amounts of goodwill or indefinite-lived intangible assets that would be subject to testing for impairment. We have in the past and may in the future be required to write off all or part of the intangible assets or goodwill associated with these investments that could harm our operating results. If we consummate one or more significant future acquisitions in which the consideration consists of stock or other securities, our existing stockholders' ownership could be significantly diluted. If we were to proceed with one or more significant future acquisitions in which the consideration included cash, we could be required to use a substantial portion of our cash and investments. Acquisitions could also cause operating margins to fall depending on the businesses acquired. Our strategic investments may involve joint development, joint marketing, or entry into new business ventures, or new technology licensing. Any joint development efforts may not result in the successful introduction of any new products or services by us or a third party, and any joint marketing efforts may not result in increased demand for our products or services. Further, any current or future strategic acquisitions and investments by us may not allow us to enter and compete effectively in new markets or enhance our business in our existing markets and we may have to impair the carrying amount of our investments.

Legal & Regulatory

Total Risks: 9/56 (16%)Below Sector Average

Regulation3 | 5.4%

Regulation - Risk 1

Changes in laws and regulations concerning the use of telecommunication bandwidth could increase our costs and adversely impact our business.

Our business depends on our ability to sell devices that use telecommunication bandwidth allocated to licensed and unlicensed wireless services, and that use of that bandwidth is subject to laws and regulations that are subject to change over time. Changes in the permitted uses of telecommunication bandwidth, reallocation of such bandwidth to different uses, and new or increased regulation of the capabilities, manufacture, importation, and use of devices that depend on such bandwidth could increase our costs, require costly modifications to our products before they are sold, or limit our ability to sell those products in to our target markets. In addition, we are subject to regulatory requirements for certification and testing of our products before they can be marketed or sold. Those requirements may be onerous and expensive. Changes to those requirements could result in significant additional costs and could adversely impact our ability to bring new products to market in a timely fashion.

Regulation - Risk 2

We are subject to a wide range of product regulatory and safety, consumer, worker safety and environmental laws and regulations.

Our operations and the products we manufacture and/or sell are subject to a wide range of product regulatory and safety, consumer, worker safety and environmental laws and regulations. Compliance with such existing or future laws and regulations could subject us to future costs or liabilities, impact our production capabilities, constrict our ability to sell, expand or acquire facilities, restrict what solutions we can offer and generally impact our financial performance. Our products are designed for use in potentially explosive or hazardous environments. If our product design fails for any reason in such environments, we may be subject to product liabilities and future costs. In addition, some of these laws are environmental and relate to the use, disposal, remediation, emission, discharge of and exposure to hazardous substances. These laws often impose liability and can require parties to fund remedial studies or actions regardless of fault. Environmental laws have tended to become more stringent over time and any new obligations under these laws could have a negative impact on our operations or financial performance. Laws focused on the energy efficiency of electronic products and accessories, recycling of both electronic products and packaging, reducing or eliminating certain hazardous substances in electronic products, and the transportation of batteries continue to expand significantly. Laws pertaining to accessibility features of electronic products, standardization of connectors and power supplies, the transportation of lithium-ion batteries, and other aspects are also proliferating. There are also demanding and rapidly changing laws around the globe related to issues such as product safety, radio interference, radio frequency radiation exposure, medical related functionality, and consumer and social mandates pertaining to use of wireless or electronic equipment. These laws, and changes to these laws, could have a substantial impact on whether we can offer certain products, solutions, and services, and on what capabilities and characteristics our products or services can or must include. These laws and regulations impact our products and could negatively impact our ability to manufacture and sell products competitively. In addition, we anticipate that we will see increased demand to meet voluntary criteria related to reduction or elimination of certain constituents from products, increasing energy efficiency and providing additional accessibility.

Regulation - Risk 3

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, economic sanctions, export control, and similar laws. Non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal or civil liability and harm our business, revenues, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly to generally prohibit companies and their employees and third-party intermediaries from authorizing, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to recipients in the public or private sector. As we increase our international presence, we may engage with distributors and third-party intermediaries to market our solutions and to obtain necessary permits, licenses, and other regulatory approvals. In addition, we or our third-party intermediaries may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. The United States has imposed economic sanctions that affect transactions with designated foreign countries, nationals and others. In particular, the United States prohibits U.S. persons from engaging with individuals and entities identified as "Specially Designated Nationals," such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers. These prohibitions are administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. OFAC rules prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in, or facilitating a foreign person's engagement in, transactions with or relating to the prohibited individual, entity or country, and require the blocking of assets in which the individual, entity or country has an interest. Blocked assets (e.g., property or bank deposits) cannot be paid out, withdrawn, set off or transferred in any manner without a license from OFAC. Other countries in which we operate, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also maintain economic and financial sanctions regimes. Some of our solutions, including software updates and third-party accessories, may be subject to U.S. export control laws, including the Export Administration Regulations; however, the vast majority of our products are non-U.S.-origin items, developed and manufactured outside of the United States, and therefore not subject to these laws. For third-party accessories, we rely on manufacturers to supply the appropriate export control classification numbers that determine our obligations under these laws. We cannot assure you that our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. As we increase our international presence, our risks under these laws, rules, and regulations may increase. Further, any change in the applicability or enforcement of these laws, rules, and regulations could adversely impact our business operations and financial results. Detecting, investigating and resolving actual or alleged violations can require a significant diversion of time, resources, and attention from senior management. In addition, noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, or economic sanctions laws, rules, and regulations could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage, and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, revenues, financial condition, and results of operations would be significantly harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of management's attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could further harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Litigation & Legal Liabilities2 | 3.6%

Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1

The unfavorable outcome of any future litigation, arbitration or administrative action could have a significant adverse impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

From time to time, we are a party to litigation, arbitration, or administrative actions. Our business may bring us into conflict with third parties with whom we have contractual or other business relationships, or with our competitors or others whose interests differ from ours. If we are unable to resolve those conflicts on terms that are satisfactory to all parties, we may become involved in litigation brought by or against us. Our financial results and reputation could be negatively impacted by unfavorable outcomes to any future litigation or administrative actions, including those related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, or other anti-corruption laws. Monitoring, initiating and defending against legal actions is time-consuming for our management, likely to be expensive and may detract from our ability to fully focus our internal resources on our business activities. In addition, despite the availability of insurance, we may incur substantial legal fees and costs in connection with litigation. Lawsuits are subject to inherent uncertainties, and defense and disposition costs depend upon many unknown factors. Lawsuits could result in judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin us from certain activities, or otherwise negatively affect our legal or contractual rights, which could have a significant adverse effect on our business. In addition, the inherent uncertainty of such litigation could lead to increased volatility in our stock price and a decrease in the value of our stockholders' investment in our common stock. There can be no assurances as to the favorable outcome of any litigation or administrative proceedings. In addition, it can be very costly to defend litigation or administrative proceedings and these costs could negatively impact our financial results.

Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 2

We may incur substantial costs and receive adverse outcomes in litigation, regulatory investigations, and other legal matters in connection with alleged violations of securities laws and regulations.

Our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by unfavorable results in pending or future litigations, regulatory investigations, and other legal matters related to violations or perceived violations of applicable securities laws and regulations by the Company or its affiliates. We have been subject to the SEC investigation and stockholders' class actions in the past and may become subject to securities-related investigations or legal proceedings in the future. The ultimate resolution of such investigations and lawsuits cannot be predicted, and the claims raised in these lawsuits may result in further legal matters or actions against us, including, but not limited to, government enforcement actions or additional private litigation. We were subject to an SEC investigation that had started in March 2020. Although there were no penalties imposed against the Company as a result of that SEC investigation, we cannot predict the outcome of any particular proceeding, or whether any new SEC investigation will be resolved favorably or ultimately result in charges or material damages, fines or other penalties, enforcement actions, or civil or criminal proceedings against us or members of our senior management. Litigation matters and regulatory investigations, regardless of their merits or their ultimate outcomes, are costly, divert management's attention, and may materially adversely affect our reputation and demand for our products. We cannot predict with certainty the eventual outcome of pending or future legal matters. An adverse outcome of litigation or legal matters could result in us being responsible for significant damages. Any of these negative effects resulting from litigation, regulatory investigations, and other legal matters could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Taxation & Government Incentives2 | 3.6%

Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1

Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income will be subject to certain limitations.

As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, of $88.4 million and $7.4 million, respectively, due to prior period losses, a portion of which expire in various years beginning in 2037 and 2035, respectively, if not utilized. In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an "ownership change" is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its NOLs to offset future taxable income. Due to the investment by AJP Holding Company, LLC during 2022 and the resulting ownership change, the future use of the NOLs to reduce future taxable income of the Company is severely limited.

Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 2

Changes in the availability of federal funding to support local public safety or other public sector efforts could impact our opportunities with public sector end customers.

Many of our public sector end customers rely to some extent on funds from the U.S. federal government in order to purchase and pay for our solutions. Any reduction in federal funding for local public safety or other public sector efforts could result in our end customers having less access to funds required to continue, renew, expand or pay for our solutions. Additionally, the last U.S. government partial shutdown, and any future U.S. government shutdowns, could result in delayed public safety spending or re-allocation of funding into other areas of public safety. If federal funding is reduced or eliminated and our end customers cannot find alternative sources of funding to purchase our solutions, our business will be harmed.

Environmental / Social2 | 3.6%

Environmental / Social - Risk 1

Increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from investors, customers, lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders regarding environmental, social and governance, or ESG-related practices and disclosures may adversely affect our reputation, adversely impact our ability to attract and retain employees or customers, expose us to increased scrutiny from the investment community or enforcement authorities or otherwise adversely impact our business and results of operations.

There is increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from investors, customers, lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders on ESG-related practices and disclosures, including those related to environmental stewardship, climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion, forced labor, racial justice, and workplace conduct. Regulators have imposed, and likely will continue to impose, ESG-related rules and guidance, which may conflict with one another and impose additional costs on us or expose us to new or additional risks. Moreover, certain organizations that provide information to investors have developed ratings for evaluating companies on their approach to different ESG-related matters, and unfavorable ratings of us or our industry may lead to negative investor sentiment and the diversion of investment to other companies or industries. As a smaller company, we may not have resources to meet the evolving ESG-related expectations of an investment community.

Environmental / Social - Risk 2

We are subject to a wide range of privacy and data security laws, regulations and other legal obligations.

Personal privacy and information security are significant issues in the United States and the other jurisdictions in which we operate or make our products and applications available. The legislative and regulatory framework for privacy and security issues worldwide is rapidly evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. Our handling of data is subject to a variety of laws and regulations, including regulation by various government agencies, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and various state, local and foreign agencies. We may collect personally identifiable information, or PII, and other data from our customers. We use this information to provide services to our customers and to support, expand and improve our business. We may also share customers' PII with third parties as allowed by applicable law and agreements and authorized by the customer or as described in our privacy policy. The U.S. federal and various state and foreign governments have adopted or proposed limitations on the collection, distribution, transfer, use and storage of PII. In the United States, the FTC and many state attorneys general are applying federal and state consumer protection laws as imposing standards for the online collection, use and dissemination of data. Many foreign countries and governmental bodies, including Canada, the European Union and other relevant jurisdictions, have laws and regulations concerning the collection and use of PII obtained from their residents or by businesses operating within their jurisdiction. These laws and regulations often are more restrictive than those in the United States. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, disclosure and security of data that identifies or may be used to identify or locate an individual, such as names, email addresses and, in some jurisdictions, Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses. Within the European Union, legislators have adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, effective May 2018 which may impose additional obligations and risk upon our business, and which may increase substantially the penalties to which we could be subject in the event of any non-compliance. We may incur substantial expense in complying with the obligations imposed by the governments of the foreign jurisdictions in which we do business or seek to do business and we may be required to make significant changes in our business operations, all of which may adversely impact our revenues and our business overall. Although we are working to comply with those federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations, industry standards, contractual obligations and other legal obligations that apply to us, those laws, regulations, standards and obligations are evolving and may be modified, interpreted and applied in an inconsistent manner from one jurisdiction to another, and may conflict with one another, other requirements or legal obligations, our practices or the features of our products or applications. At state level, lawmakers continue to pass new laws concerning privacy and data security. Particularly notable in this regard is the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020, as well as the California Consumer Privacy Act, which was passed in November 2020 and makes a number of significant amendments to the CCPA. The CCPA introduced significant new disclosure obligations and provides California consumers with significant new privacy rights. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with federal, state or foreign laws or regulations, industry standards, contractual obligations or other legal obligations, or any actual or suspected security incident, whether or not resulting in unauthorized access to, or acquisition, release or transfer of PII or other data, may result in governmental enforcement actions and prosecutions, private litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity and could cause our customers to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse impact on our reputation and business. Any inability to adequately address privacy and security concerns, even if unfounded, or comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies, industry standards, contractual obligations, or other legal obligations could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, inhibit sales and adversely impact our business. We also expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security in the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, contractual obligations and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. Such laws and regulations may require companies to implement privacy and security policies, permit users to access, correct and delete personal information stored or maintained by such companies, inform individuals of security breaches that affect their personal information, and, in some cases, obtain individuals' consent to use PII for certain purposes. In addition, a foreign government could require that any PII collected in a country not be disseminated outside of that country, and we are not currently equipped to comply with such a requirement.

Ability to Sell

Total Risks: 9/56 (16%)Below Sector Average

Competition2 | 3.6%

Competition - Risk 1

We participate in a competitive industry, which may become more competitive. Competitors with greater resources and significant experience in high-volume product manufacturing may be able to respond more quickly and cost-effectively than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements.

We face significant competition in developing and selling our solutions. Our primary competitors in the non-rugged mobile device market include Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Our primary competitors in the rugged mobile device market include Bullitt Mobile Ltd., and Kyocera Corporation. We also face competition from large system integrators and manufacturers of private and public wireless network equipment and devices. Competitors in this space include Harris Corporation, JVC KENWOOD Corporation, Motorola Solutions, Inc., or MSI, and Tait International Limited. We cannot assure we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors. Increased competition in mobile computing platforms, or related accessories and software developments may result in price reductions, lower gross profit margins, and loss of market share, and could require increased spending on research and development, sales and marketing, and customer support. Some competitors may make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships with suppliers or companies that produce complementary products, which may create additional pressures on our competitive position in the marketplace. Most of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, sales, marketing and other resources and experience than we do. In addition, because of the higher volume of components that many of our competitors purchase from their suppliers, they are able to keep their supply costs relatively low and, as a result, may be able to recognize higher margins on their product sales than we do. Many of our competitors may also have existing relationships with the channel partners who we use to sell our products, or with our potential customers. This competition may result in reduced prices, reduced margins and longer sales cycles for our products. Our competitors may also be able quickly and cost-effectively respond to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements. The combination of brand strength, extensive distribution channels and financial resources of the larger vendors could cause us to lose market share and could reduce our margins on our products, especially if any of our larger competitors moved into the market for ultra-rugged mobile phones and accessories, as those competitors would enjoy relatively low barriers. If any of our larger competitors were to commit greater technical, sales, marketing and other resources to our markets, our ability to compete would be adversely impacted. If we are unable to successfully compete with our competitors, our sales would suffer and as a result our financial condition will be adversely impacted.

Competition - Risk 2

We compete in a rapidly evolving market, and the failure to respond quickly and effectively to changing market requirements could cause our business and operating results to decline.

The mobile device market is characterized by rapidly changing technology, changing customer needs, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and services. In order to deliver a competitive mobile device, our solutions must be capable of operating in an increasingly complex network environment. As new wireless phones are introduced and standards in the mobile device market evolve, we may be required to modify our phones and services to make them compatible with these new products and standards. Likewise, if our competitors introduce new devices and services that compete with ours, we may be required to reposition our solutions or introduce new phones and solutions in response to such competitive pressure. We may not be successful in modifying our current phones or introducing new ones in a timely or appropriately responsive manner, or at all. If we fail to address these changes successfully, our business and operating results could be significantly harmed.

Demand3 | 5.4%

Demand - Risk 1

If we fail to adequately forecast demand for our inventory and supply needs, we could incur additional costs or experience manufacturing delays, which could reduce our gross margin or cause us to delay or even lose sales.

Because our production volumes are based on a forecast of channel partner demand rather than firm purchase commitments from our major customers, our forecasts have been, and there is a risk that our forecasts could be in the future, inaccurate and there is a risk that we will be unable to sell our products at the volumes and prices we expect, which may result in excess inventory. We provide, and will continue to provide, forecasts of our demand to our third-party suppliers prior to the scheduled delivery of products to our channel partners. If we overestimate our requirements, our contract manufacturers may have excess component inventory, which could increase our costs. If we underestimate our requirements, our contract manufacturers may have inadequate component inventory, which could interrupt the manufacturing of our products and result in delays in shipments and revenues, lost sales, or we could incur unplanned overtime costs to meet our requirements, resulting in significant cost increases. For example, certain materials and components used to manufacture our products may reach end of life during any of our product's life cycles, following which suppliers no longer provide such expired materials and components. This would require us to either source and qualify an alternative component, which could require a re-certification of the device by the wireless carriers and/or regulatory agencies or forecast product demand for a final purchase of such materials and components that may reach end of life to ensure that we have sufficient product inventory through a product's life cycle. If we overestimate forecasted demand, we will hold excess end-of-life materials and components resulting in increased costs. If we underestimate forecasted demand, we could experience delays in shipments and loss of revenues. In addition, if we underestimate our requirements and the applicable supplier becomes insolvent or is no longer able to timely supply our needs in a cost-efficient manner or at all, we may be required to acquire components, which may need to be customized for our products, from alternative suppliers, including at significantly higher costs. For example, in 2018, one of our suppliers became insolvent and ceased all production, requiring us to seek alternative supply of complex components in a very short time frame. If we cannot source alternative suppliers and/or alternative components, we may suffer delays in shipments or lost sales. Similarly, credit constraints at our suppliers could require us to accelerate payment of our accounts payable, impacting our cash flow. Further, lead times for materials and components that we order vary significantly and depend on factors such as the specific supplier, contract terms, customization needed for any particular component and demand for each component at a given time. Any such failure to accurately forecast demand and manufacturing and supply requirements, and any need to obtain alternative supply sources, could materially harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Demand - Risk 2

We are materially dependent on the adoption of our solutions by both the industrial enterprise and public sector markets, and if end customers in those markets do not purchase our solutions, our revenues will be adversely impacted, and we may not be able to expand into other markets.

Our revenues have historically been in the industrial enterprise market, and we are materially dependent on the adoption of our solutions by both the industrial enterprise and public sector markets. End customers in the public sector market may remain, for reasons outside our control, tied to solutions or other competitive alternatives to our phones. Sales of our products to these buyers may also be delayed or limited by these competitive conditions. If our products are not widely accepted by buyers in those markets, we may not be able to expand sales of our products into new markets, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely impacted.

Demand - Risk 3

In the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, approximately 83% and 76% of our revenues respectively, were derived from our top four customers. We expect our revenues to continue to be heavily concentrated among our top customers, and the loss of, or significant reduction in orders from, any of these customers could significantly reduce our revenues and adversely impact our operating results.

We currently rely on the three largest U.S. wireless carriers, and two of the three largest Canadian wireless carriers, for the majority of our revenue. We expect our revenues to remain heavily concentrated among these top wireless carriers, and we will be substantially dependent on these wireless carriers continuing to purchase and promote our products to their sales channels as well as customer demand for devices and services from these wireless carriers (factors over which we do not have any control). The communications industry is also experiencing rapid consolidation and realignment. As a result, our customers may consolidate or align with other entities in a manner that may delay orders or result in reduced demand compared to historical rates for our products. The loss of one or more of these significant customers, or reduced demand or purchases from these significant customers, would result in significant harm to our revenues and results of operations, and our growth could be limited. We are materially dependent on some customer relationships that are characterized by non-binding product award letters and the loss of such relationships could harm our business and operating results. We receive award letters or contracts from some of our customers that generally provide for the supply of a customer's requirements for a particular product, but do not require the purchase of a product. In addition, new program launches require a significant ramp up of costs; however, the sales related to these new programs generally are dependent upon the timing and success of the introduction of our products by our customers. The loss of business with respect to, or the lack of commercial success of, a particular product for which we are a supplier could reduce our sales and thereby adversely affect our financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

Sales & Marketing3 | 5.4%

Sales & Marketing - Risk 1

We are required to undergo a lengthy customization and certification process for each wireless carrier customer, which increases our operating expenses, and failure to obtain such certification would adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Each wireless carrier requires each of our devices to complete a thorough technical acceptance process before it can be stocked and sold. Such acceptance processes impose rigorous and complex requirements on our devices, which result in a lengthy testing and certification process, during which we incur substantial operating expenses related to the wireless carrier's technical acceptance of our devices. The acceptance processes and related costs to us vary across carrier customers depending on carrier size and level of customization required. Generally, the certification process commences within one to three months of product concept development. During this development stage, certain carriers provide a technology roadmap and target demographics, allowing us to define product specifications to meet carrier goals, while other carriers provide defined specifications and preferred price points. Once we receive approval of a product concept by the carrier, we and the carrier advance the product to the development stage. When the product is close to becoming a functioning model, we commence internal quality assurance processes and field testing, which may include third -party lab testing, in-market field testing and interoperability testing. Finally, as the last step in the testing phase, the wireless carrier typically conducts testing itself, following which the product may be certified and stocked. The entire process can last from 6 to 18 months depending on the particular wireless carrier and type of device. Any delay in the acceptance process or failure to satisfy the device certification requirements would affect our ability to bring products to market and adversely impacts our results of operations and financial condition.

Sales & Marketing - Risk 2

We experience lengthy sales cycles for our products and the delay of an expected large order could result in a significant unexpected revenue shortfall.

The purchase of our products is often an enterprise-wide decision for prospective customers, which requires us to engage in sales efforts over an extended period of time and provide a significant level of education to prospective customers regarding the uses and benefits of such devices. Prospective customers, especially the wireless carriers that sell our products, often undertake a prolonged evaluation process that may take from several months to several years in certain cases. Consequently, if our forecasted sales from a specific customer are not realized, we may not be able to generate revenues from alternative sources in time to compensate for the shortfall. The loss or delay of an expected large order could also result in a significant unexpected revenue shortfall. Moreover, to the extent we enter into and deliver our products pursuant to significant contracts earlier than we expected, our operating results for subsequent periods may fall below expectations. We may spend substantial time, effort and money on our sales and marketing efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce any sales. If we are unable to succeed in closing sales with new and existing customers, our business, operating results and financial condition will be harmed.

Sales & Marketing - Risk 3

If we are unable to sell our solutions into new markets, our revenues may not grow.

Any new market into which we attempt to sell our solutions may not be receptive. Our ability to penetrate new markets depends on the quality of our solutions, the continued adoption of our public safety solution by first responders, the perceived value of our solutions as a risk management tool and our ability to design our solutions to meet the demands of our customers. If the markets for our solutions do not develop as we expect, our revenues may not grow. Our ability to successfully face these challenges depends on several factors, including increasing the awareness of our solutions and their benefits, the effectiveness of our marketing programs, the costs of our solutions, our ability to attract, retain and effectively train sales and marketing personnel, and our ability to develop relationships with wireless carriers and other partners. If we are unsuccessful in developing and marketing our solutions into new markets, new markets for our solutions might not develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which would harm our revenues and growth prospects.

Brand / Reputation1 | 1.8%

Brand / Reputation - Risk 1

Our future success is dependent on our ability to create independent brand awareness for our company and products with end customers, and our inability to achieve such brand awareness could limit our prospects.

We depend on a small number of wireless carriers to distribute our products. While we intend to accelerate direct marketing and end-customer brand awareness initiatives in the future, our sales and marketing efforts have historically been predominantly focused on channel partners. As such, our operating expenses related to end-customer marketing efforts have historically been very small, representing less than 1.0% of our total sales and marketing expenses during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. To increase end-customer brand awareness requires investments in our sales and marketing efforts. As a result, we expect our sales and marketing expenses to increase in the future, primarily from increased sales personnel expenses, which will require us to cost-efficiently ramp up our sales and marketing capabilities and effectively target end customers. However, there can be no assurance that we will successfully increase our brand awareness or do so in a cost-efficient manner while maintaining market share within our existing sales channels. Our failure to establish stand-alone brand awareness with end customers of our products would leave us vulnerable to competitors and have an adverse impact on our prospects. If we are unable to significantly increase the awareness of our brand and solutions with end customers in a cost-efficient manner, we will remain significantly dependent on our channel partners for sales of our products and would adversely impact our ability to grow our business.

Tech & Innovation

Total Risks: 8/56 (14%)Below Sector Average

Innovation / R&D3 | 5.4%

Innovation / R&D - Risk 1

Added

Our entry into the data device sector could divert our management team's attention from existing products, cause delays in launching our new products, or otherwise have a significant adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

In August of 2023, as part of our expansion efforts, we announced an expansion of our product portfolio and introduced a new Connected Solutions division which is set to begin launching products in 2024 in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Connected Solutions will primarily consist of mobile hotspots, fixed wireless, and USB dongle devices. The success of this new division depends in large part on our team's ability to correctly identify and address the market opportunity, to execute our plans to develop, manufacture, market, and sell our new family of data devices. We will need to find efficient manufacturing capabilities of our ODM partners and processes and develop the supply chains necessary to support our expansion into the data device sector. Our production plan for this product expansion is based on many key assumptions, including that: - we correctly estimated customer demand for our new product portfolio;- we will be able to timely engage manufacturers for the manufacturing of these products on terms and conditions that are acceptable to us;- manufacturers will be able to obtain needed components on a timely basis and in the necessary quantities;- we will be able to complete the final product design for delivery to our manufacturers in a timely manner; and - manufacturers will be able to produce these devices in a timely manner. Our entry into these next-generation devices, and in the overall data device sector other than smartphones, may divert our management team's attention from existing product development and may cause our inability to achieve the planned product portfolio expansion which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Innovation / R&D - Risk 2

The markets for our devices and related accessories may not develop as quickly as we expect or may not develop at all.

Our future success is substantially dependent upon continued adoption of devices and related accessories in the industrial enterprise and public sector markets, including the transition from LMR and PTT, to smartphone and cellular networks. These market developments and transitions may take longer than we expect or may not occur at all and may not be as widespread as we expect. If the market does not develop as we expect, our business, operating results and financial condition would be significantly harmed.

Innovation / R&D - Risk 3

We may not be able to continue to develop solutions to address user needs effectively, including our new consumer durable products, which would materially adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to continue operations.

Our industry is characterized by: - evolving industry standards; - frequent new product and service introductions; - evolving distribution channels; - increasing demand for customized product and software solutions; - rapid competitive developments; and - changing customer demands. Technological advancements could render our products obsolete, which typically erodes prices and causes products to become unmarketable. Our success will depend on our ability to respond to changing technologies and customer requirements, and our ability to develop and introduce new and enhanced products in a cost-effective and timely manner. For example, our XP3plus and XP5plus products are compatible with fourth generation, or 4G, technology, but emerging fifth generation wireless, or 5G, technology will require network infrastructure upgrades, which could require us to update and migrate all of our systems from 4G to 5G. As a result, we are currently prioritizing spending on research and development of our consumer durable mobile phones and other data devices. However, the research and development necessary to launch our new products will require us to incur additional costs and our liquidity continues to be adversely impacted by our ongoing net losses. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient resources to complete the development of our new products and bring them to market. Even if we are able to introduce our new ruggedized mobile phones to the market, there can be no assurance that these new product introductions will lead to any sales or increase in revenue. If we fail to develop new products on a timely and cost-effective basis, or if our new products fail to achieve market acceptance, our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity would be further materially adversely affected and we may be required to delay, reduce or cease our operations and we may be required to seek bankruptcy protection. Further, the development of new or enhanced products is a complex and uncertain process requiring the accurate anticipation of technological and market trends. We may experience design, manufacturing, marketing, and other difficulties that could delay or prevent the development, introduction or marketing of our new products and enhancements. If we experience delays with new products, if our expectations regarding market demand and direction are incorrect, if sales of our existing products begin to decline more rapidly, or if the rate of decline continues to exceed the rate of growth of our next generation products, it will materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, and may require us to significantly reduce or even eliminate certain research and development programs.

Trade Secrets2 | 3.6%

Trade Secrets - Risk 1

Others may claim that we infringe on their intellectual property rights, which may result in costly and time-consuming litigation and could delay or otherwise impair the development and commercialization of our products.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in litigation in the United States involving patents and other intellectual property rights, and because our products are comprised of complex technology, we are often involved in or impacted by assertions, including both requests to take licenses and litigation, regarding infringement of patent and other intellectual property rights of third parties. Third parties have asserted, and in the future may assert, intellectual property infringement claims against us and against our channel partners, end customers and suppliers. Many of these assertions are brought by non-practicing entities whose principal business model is to secure patent licensing revenues from product manufacturing companies. Claims for alleged infringement and any resulting lawsuit, if successful, could subject us to significant liability for damages and invalidation of our intellectual property rights. Defending any such claims, with or without merit, including pursuant to indemnity obligations, could be time consuming, expensive, cause product shipment delays or require us to enter into a royalty or licensing agreement, any of which could delay the development and commercialization of our products or reduce our margins. If we are unable to obtain a required license, our ability to sell or use certain products may be impaired. In addition, if we fail to obtain a license, or if the terms of the license are burdensome to us, our operations could be significantly harmed.

Trade Secrets - Risk 2

If we are unable to successfully protect our intellectual property, our competitive position may be harmed.

Our ability to compete is heavily affected by our ability to protect our intellectual property. We rely on a combination of patents, patent applications, copyright and trademark laws, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary rights. We also enter, and plan to continue to enter, into confidentiality, invention assignment or license agreements with our employees, consultants and other parties with whom we contract, and control access to and distribution of our software, documentation and other proprietary information. The steps we take to protect our intellectual property may be inadequate, and it is possible that some or all of our confidentiality agreements will not be honored, and certain contractual provisions may not be enforceable. Existing trade secret, trademark and copyright laws offer only limited protection. Unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our products or obtain and use information which we regard as proprietary. Policing unauthorized use of our products is difficult, time consuming and costly, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. We cannot assure you that our means of protecting our proprietary rights will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop similar technology, the effect of either of which would harm our competitive position in the market. Furthermore, disputes can arise with our strategic partners, customers or others concerning the ownership of intellectual property.

Cyber Security1 | 1.8%

Cyber Security - Risk 1

A security breach or other significant disruption of our IT systems or those of our partners, suppliers or manufacturers, caused by cyberattacks or other means, could have a negative impact on our operations, sales, and operating results.

We rely extensively on our information systems to manage our business operations. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience attempts to compromise our information technology systems and those of our third-party service providers. All IT systems are potentially vulnerable to damage, unauthorized access or interruption from a variety of sources, including but not limited to, cyberattacks, cyber intrusions, computer viruses, security breaches, energy blackouts, natural disasters, terrorism, sabotage, war, insider trading and telecommunication failures. A cyberattack or other significant disruption involving our IT systems or those of our outsource partners, suppliers or manufacturers could result in the unauthorized release of proprietary, confidential or sensitive information of ours or result in virus and malware installation on our devices. Such unauthorized access to, or release of, this information or other security breaches could: (i) allow others to unfairly compete with us, (ii) compromise safety or security, (iii) subject us to claims for breach of contract, tort, and other civil claims, and (iv) damage our reputation. We could face regulatory penalties, enforcement actions, remediation obligations, or private litigation by parties whose data is improperly disclosed or misused. Any or all of the foregoing could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Technology2 | 3.6%

Technology - Risk 1

Our existing IT systems may not be adequate to manage our growth, and our implementation of updated IT systems could result in significant disruptions to our operations.

Our existing IT systems may be inadequate to manage our growth and we must implement various upgrades to our enterprise resource planning, or ERP, systems, as well as other complementary IT systems, over the next several years. Implementation of these solutions and systems is highly dependent on coordination of numerous software and system providers and internal business teams. The interdependence of these solutions and systems is a significant risk to the successful completion of the initiatives and the failure of any one system could have a significant adverse impact on the implementation of our overall IT infrastructure. We may experience difficulties as we transition to these new or upgraded systems and processes, including loss or corruption of data, delayed shipments, decreases in productivity as our personnel and third-party providers implement and become familiar with new systems, increased costs and lost revenues. In addition, transitioning to these new systems requires significant capital investments and personnel resources. Difficulties in implementing new or upgraded information systems or significant system failures could disrupt our operations and have a significant adverse impact on our capital resources, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Implementation of this new IT infrastructure could have a significant impact on our business processes and information systems across a significant portion of our operations. As a result, we must undergo significant changes in our operational processes and internal controls as our implementation progresses, which in turn will require significant change management, including recruiting and training of qualified personnel. If we are unable to successfully manage these changes as we implement these systems, including harmonizing our systems, data, processes and reporting analytics, our ability to conduct, manage and control routine business functions could be negatively affected and significant disruptions to our business could occur. In addition, we could incur material unanticipated expenses, including additional costs of implementation or costs of conducting business. These risks could result in significant business disruptions or divert management's attention from key strategic initiatives and have a significant adverse impact on our capital resources, financial condition and results of operations.

Technology - Risk 2

Our use of open-source software could subject us to possible litigation or otherwise impair the development of our products.

A portion of our technologies incorporates open-source software, including open-source operating systems such as Android, and we expect to continue to incorporate open-source software into our platform in the future. Few of the licenses applicable to open-source software have been interpreted by courts, and their application to the open-source software integrated into our proprietary technology platform may be uncertain. If we fail to comply with these licenses, then pursuant to the terms of these licenses, we may be subject to certain requirements, including requirements that we make available the source code for our software that incorporates the open-source software. We cannot assure you that we have not incorporated open-source software in our software in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the applicable licenses or our current policies and procedures. If an author or other third party that distributes such open-source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our technology platform. With respect to open-source operating systems, if third parties cease continued development of such operating systems or restrict our access to such operating system, our business and financial results could be adversely impacted. We are dependent on third parties' continued development of operating systems, software application ecosystem infrastructures, and such third parties' approval of our implementations of their operating and system and associated applications. If such parties cease to continue development or support of such operating systems or restrict our access to such operating systems, we would be required to change our strategy for our devices. As a result, our financial results could be negatively impacted because a resulting shift away from the operating systems we currently use, and the associated applications ecosystem could be costly and difficult.

Production

Total Risks: 7/56 (13%)Below Sector Average

Manufacturing1 | 1.8%

Manufacturing - Risk 1

If our products contain defects or errors, we could incur significant unexpected expenses, experience product returns and lost sales, experience product recalls, suffer damage to our brand and reputation, and be subject to product liability or other claims.

We produce highly complex products that incorporate leading-edge technology, including both hardware and software. The industry standards upon which many of our products are based are also complex, experience change over time and may be interpreted in different manners. Software often contains defects or programming flaws that can unexpectedly interfere with expected operations. In addition, our products are complex and are designed to be deployed in large quantities across complex and varying networks. Because of the nature of these products, they can only be fully tested when completely deployed in large networks with high amounts of traffic, and there is no assurance that our pre-shipment testing programs will be adequate to detect all defects. As a result, our customers may discover errors or defects in our hardware or software, or our products may not operate as expected. If we are unable to cure a product defect, we could experience damage to our reputation, reduced customer satisfaction, loss of existing customers and failure to attract new customers, failure to achieve market acceptance, reduced sales opportunities, loss of revenue and market share, increased service and warranty costs, diversion of development resources, legal actions by our customers, and increased insurance costs. Defects, integration issues or other performance problems in our products could also result in damages to our customers, financial or otherwise. Our customers could seek damages for related losses from us, which could seriously harm our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity. A product liability claim brought against us, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time consuming and costly. The occurrence of any of these problems would seriously harm our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity. Further, errors, defects or bugs in our solutions could be exploited by hackers or could otherwise result in an actual or perceived breach of our information systems. Alleviating any of these problems could require significant expense and could cause interruptions, delays or cessation of our product licensing, which would reduce demand for our products and result in a loss of sales, delay in market acceptance and injure our reputation and could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Employment / Personnel1 | 1.8%

Employment / Personnel - Risk 1

We are dependent on the continued services and performance of a concentrated and limited group of senior management and other key personnel, the loss of any of whom could adversely impact our business.

Our future success depends in large part on the continued contributions of a concentrated and limited group of senior management and other key personnel. As previously disclosed, beginning in 2021, we outsourced substantially all of our software development and manufacturing work to third parties and, as part of these outsourcings, we transferred or eliminated a significant number of employees. As of December 31, 2022, our worldwide employee headcount was 54 employees. Due to the small size of our Company and our limited number of employees, each member of our executives, managers and other key personnel serves a critical role to our success. If we are unable to retain sufficiently experienced and capable employees, including those who can help us increase revenues generated from our end market segments, our business and financial results may suffer. The loss of the services of any additional executives, managers or other key personnel could impede the achievement of our strategic objectives, seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy and adversely impact our operating results. In addition, if additional executives, managers or other key personnel resign, retire or are terminated, or their service is otherwise interrupted, including due to COVID-19, we may not be able to replace them in a timely manner and we could experience significant declines in productivity and/or errors due to insufficient staffing or managerial oversight. Moreover, experienced and capable employees in the technology industry remain in high demand, and there is continual competition for their talents. Given our size, we may be at a disadvantage, relative to our larger competitors, in the competition for these personnel.

Supply Chain5 | 8.9%

Supply Chain - Risk 1

Our dependence on third-party suppliers for key components of our products could delay shipment of our products and reduce our sales.

We depend on certain suppliers for the delivery of components used in the assembly of our products, including machined parts, injection molded plastic parts, printed circuit boards and other miscellaneous custom parts for our products. Our reliance on third-party suppliers creates risks related to our potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of components and reduced control over pricing and timing of delivery of components. In particular, we have little to no control over the prices at which our suppliers sell materials and components to us. The components business has, from time to time, experienced periods of extreme shortages in product supply, generally as the result of demand exceeding available supply. Many companies utilize the same raw materials and supplies that we do in the production of their products. Companies with more resources than our own may have a competitive advantage in obtaining raw materials and supplies due to greater buying power. When these shortages occur, suppliers also tend to either increase prices or reduce the number of units sold to customers. In addition, certain supplies of our components are available only from a single source or limited sources and we may not be able to diversify suppliers in a timely manner. We have experienced shortages in the past that have negatively impacted our results of operations and may experience such shortages in the future. These factors can result in reduced supply, higher prices of components used in the assembly of our products and delays in the receipt of certain of our key components, which in turn may generate increased costs, lower margins and delays in product delivery, with a corresponding adverse effect on revenues and customer relationships. We also do not have long-term supply agreements with any of our suppliers. Our current contracts with certain suppliers may be canceled or not extended by such suppliers and, therefore, do not afford us with sufficient protection against a reduction or interruption in supplies. Moreover, in the event any of these suppliers breach their contracts with us, our legal remedies associated with such a breach may be insufficient to compensate us for any damages we may suffer. Any interruption of supply for any material components of our products for any reason, including but not limited to a global or local health crises, or inability to obtain required components from our third-party suppliers, could significantly delay the production and shipment of our products and harm our revenues, profitability and financial condition.

Supply Chain - Risk 2

We rely on our channel partners to generate a substantial majority of our revenues. If these channel partners fail to perform or if we cannot enter into agreements with channel partners on favorable terms, our operating results could be significantly harmed.

A substantial portion of our revenue is generated through sales by our channel partners, which are primarily wireless carriers who sell our phones through their sales channels. To the extent our channel partners are unsuccessful in selling or do not promote our products, or we are unable to obtain and retain a sufficient number of high-quality channel partners, our business and operating results could be significantly harmed. We enter into master sales arrangements with the majority of our channel partners (including channel partners contributing approximately 53% and 89% of our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021) under which our partners purchase our products for distribution on a purchase order basis. While these arrangements are typically long term, they generally do not contain any firm purchase volume commitments. As a result, our channel partners are not contractually obligated to purchase from us any minimum quantity of products. We are generally required to satisfy any and all purchase orders delivered to us within specified delivery windows, with limited exceptions (such as orders significantly in excess of forecasts). If we are unable to efficiently manage our supply and satisfy purchase orders on a timely basis to our channel partners, we may be in breach of our sales arrangements and lose potential sales. Our sales arrangements also generally include technical performance standards for our mobile phones and accessories sold, which vary by channel partner. If a technical issue with any of our covered products exceeds certain preset failure thresholds for the relevant performance standard or standards, the channel partner typically has the right to cease selling the product, cancel open purchase orders and levy certain monetary penalties. If our products suffer technical issues or failures following sales to our channel partners, we may be subject to significant monetary impact and our channel partners may cease making purchase orders, which would significantly harm our business and results of operations. In addition, our channel partners retain sole discretion in which of their stocked products to offer their customers. While we may offer limited customer incentives, we generally have limited to no control over which products our channel partners decide to offer or promote, which directly impacts the number of products that our partners will purchase from us. Our channel partners may be unsuccessful in marketing, selling and supporting our solutions. They may also market, sell and support solutions that are competitive with ours, and may devote more resources to the marketing, sales and support of such products. They may have incentives to promote our competitors' products in lieu of our products, particularly for competitors who do a large volume business with the channel partner. For example, during the summer of 2019, we expected, based on input from our US wireless carrier channel partners, for such channel partners to subsidize our new products following launch, to place new releases in retail locations and to sign up push-to-talk customers to our new generation phones. In each of these cases, there were significant delays and changes in the rollout of these efforts, which negatively impacted demand for our products and thus our profitability. In the event there is not sufficient demand for our products, our channel partners may stop selling our products completely. While we employ a small direct sales force, our channel partners have significantly larger sales teams who are not contractually obligated to promote any of our devices and often have multiple competing devices in stock to offer their customers. In addition, downstream sales by our channel partners often succeed due to attractive device prices and monthly rate plans, which we do not control. In certain cases, we may promote our own devices through customer incentives, typically in exchange for retail price reductions or contributions of funds for marketing purposes; however, there can be no assurance that any such incentives would contribute to increased purchases of our products. Further, given the impact of attractive pricing on ultimate sales, we generally must offer increased promotional funding or price reductions for our more expensive products. This promotional funding or price reductions operate to reduce our margins and significantly impact our profitability. New sales channel partners, as well as sales of new products being sold by existing channel partners, may take several months or more to achieve significant sales. Our channel partner sales structure could subject us to lawsuits, potential liability and reputational harm if, for example, any of our channel partners misrepresents the functionality of our products or services to their customers or violate laws or our corporate policies. Additionally, some of our master agreements with our wireless carrier customers contain most "favored nation" clauses. These clauses typically provide that if we enter into an agreement with another wireless carrier or customer on more favorable terms, we must offer some of those terms to our existing wireless carrier customers. These provisions may obligate us to provide different, more favorable, terms to our existing wireless carrier customers, which could, if applied, result in lower revenues or otherwise adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we fail to effectively manage our existing or future sales channel partners, our channel partners fail to promote our products effectively, we are unable to meet our obligations under our sales arrangements or enter into future agreements with wireless carrier customers that have terms that are more favorable to the customer, our business and results of operations would be harmed.

Supply Chain - Risk 3

We rely primarily on third-party contract manufacturers and partners. If these relationships are disrupted and we are unable to obtain substitute manufacturers or partners, on favorable terms or at all, our business, operating results and financial condition may be harmed.

We have outsourced our software development, third-party contract manufacturing, and product assembly operations to third-parties located in India and China. Our contract manufacturers now produce all of our products in facilities located in Asia. All manufacturing of our products is performed in accordance with detailed specifications and product designs furnished or approved by us and is subject to rigorous quality control standards. We periodically review our product manufacturing operations and consider changes we believe may be necessary or appropriate. Although we intend to closely manage the transition process when manufacturing changes, we could experience disruption to our operations during any such transition. Other significant risks include limited control over assembly and testing capacity, delivery schedules, quality assurance, manufacturing yields, production costs, tariffs and uncertainty over political unrest. Any such disruption could negatively affect our reputation and our operating results. In addition, we rely on third parties to provide certain services to us, or to our customers, including software development, hosting services and providers of other cloud-based services. If these third-party providers do not perform as expected, our customers may be adversely affected, resulting in potential liability and negative exposure for us. If it is necessary to migrate these services to other providers due to poor performance, cyber breaches or other security considerations, or other financial or operational factors, it could result in service disruptions to our customers and significant time and expense to us, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. Migrating our design methodology to third-party contract manufacturers or partners could involve increased costs, resources and development time, and could expose us to further risk of losing control over our intellectual property and the quality of our products.

Supply Chain - Risk 4

Failure of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers, and representatives to use acceptable legal or ethical business practices, or to fail for any other reason, could negatively impact our business.

We do not control the labor and other business practices of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers and third-party sales representatives, or TPSRs, and cannot provide assurance that they will operate in compliance with applicable rules, and regulations regarding working conditions, employment practices, environmental compliance, anti-corruption, and trademark a copyright and patent licensing. If one of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers, or TPSRs violates labor or other laws or implements labor or other business practices that are regarded as unethical, the shipment of finished products to us could be interrupted, orders could be canceled, relationships could be terminated, and our reputation could be damaged. If one of our suppliers or subcontractors fails to procure the necessary license rights to trademarks, copyrights or patents, legal action could be taken against us that could impact the saleability of our products and expose us to financial obligations to a third party. Any of these events could have a negative impact on our sales and results of operations. Moreover, any failure of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers and TPSRs, for any reason, including bankruptcy or other business disruption, could disrupt our supply or distribution efforts and could have a negative impact on our sales and results of operations.

Supply Chain - Risk 5

Our inability to obtain and maintain any third-party license required to develop new products and product enhancements could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we are required to license technology from third parties to develop new products or product enhancements. For example, we have entered into worldwide intellectual property cross license agreements or other technology license agreements with a number of global technology companies in the mobile telecommunications market. Third-party licenses may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we fail to renew any intellectual property license agreements on commercially reasonable terms, or any such license agreements otherwise expire or terminate, we may not be able to use the patents and technologies of these third parties in our products, which are critical to our success. We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively control the level of licensing and royalty fees paid to third parties, and significant increase in such fees could have a significant and adverse impact on our future profitability. Seeking alternative patents and technologies may be difficult and time-consuming, and we may not be successful in finding alternative technologies or incorporating them into our products. Our inability to obtain any third-party license necessary to develop new products or product enhancements could require us to obtain substitute technology of lower quality or performance standards, or at greater cost, which could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Macro & Political

Total Risks: 5/56 (9%)Below Sector Average

Economy & Political Environment2 | 3.6%

Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1

Economic uncertainties or downturns, or political changes, could limit the availability of funds available to our customers and potential customers, which could significantly adversely impact our business.

Current or future economic uncertainties or downturns could adversely impact our business and operating results. Negative conditions in the general economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, political deadlock, natural catastrophes, infectious disease outbreaks, and warfare and terrorist attacks in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific region or elsewhere, could cause a decrease in funds available to our customers and potential customers and negatively affect the growth rate of our business. These economic conditions may make it extremely difficult for our customers and us to forecast and plan future budgetary decisions or business activities accurately, and they could cause our customers to reevaluate their decisions to purchase our solutions, which could delay and lengthen our sales cycles or result in cancellations of planned purchases. Furthermore, during challenging economic times or as a result of political changes, our customers may tighten their budgets and face constraints in gaining timely access to sufficient funding or other credit, which could result in an impairment of their ability to make timely payments to us. In turn, we may be required to increase our allowance for doubtful accounts, which would adversely impact our financial results. We cannot predict the timing, magnitude, or duration of any economic slowdown, instability, or recovery, generally or within any particular industry, or the impact of political changes. If the economic conditions of the general economy or industries in which we operate worsen from present levels, or if recent political changes result in less funding being available to purchase our solutions, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely impacted.

Economy & Political Environment - Risk 2

Our operations and performance depend significantly on global and regional economic conditions and adverse economic conditions can materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

We are highly susceptible to the global supply chain and any disruptions. The majority of our suppliers and manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. As a result, the Company's operations and performance depend significantly on global and regional economic conditions. Adverse macroeconomic conditions, including inflation or recession, new or increased tariffs and other barriers to trade, changes to the U.S. fiscal and monetary policy, tighter credit, higher interest rates, high unemployment, and currency fluctuations can adversely impact consumer confidence and spending and materially adversely affect demand for our products and services. In addition, consumer confidence and spending can be materially adversely affected in response to financial market volatility, negative financial news, declines in income or asset values, energy shortages and cost increases, labor and healthcare costs, and other economic factors. Besides an adverse impact on demand for our products, uncertainty about, or a decline in, global or regional economic conditions can have a significant impact on our counteragents including suppliers, contract manufacturers, logistics providers, cellular network carriers, and other channel partners. These and other economic factors can materially adversely affect the Company's business, results of operations, financial condition, and stock price.

Natural and Human Disruptions1 | 1.8%

Natural and Human Disruptions - Risk 1

Natural or man-made disasters and other similar events may significantly disrupt our business, and negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Any of our facilities may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, nuclear disasters, acts of terrorism or other criminal activities, infectious disease outbreaks, and power outages, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to operate our business for some period of time. Any disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business and operating results and harm our reputation. For example, our headquarters in Austin, Texas were shut down without power or water for several days in 2021. In addition, we may not carry business insurance or may not carry sufficient business insurance to compensate for losses that may occur. Any such losses or damages could have a significant adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the facilities of significant vendors may be harmed or rendered inoperable by such natural or man-made disasters, which may cause disruptions, difficulties or significant adverse impact on our business.

Capital Markets2 | 3.6%

Capital Markets - Risk 1

Changes in U.S. trade policy, including the imposition of tariffs and the resulting consequences, may have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.

The U.S. government has adopted a new approach to trade policy, including in some cases renegotiating and terminating certain existing bilateral or multi-lateral trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. government has also initiated tariffs on certain foreign goods from a variety of countries and regions, most notably China, where we outsource the manufacturing of our mobile phones, and has raised the possibility of imposing significant, additional tariff increases or expanding the tariffs to capture other types of goods. In response, many of these foreign governments have imposed retaliatory tariffs on goods that their countries import from the U.S. Changes in U.S. trade policy have and may continue to result in one or more foreign governments adopting responsive trade policies that make it more difficult or costly for us to do business in or import our products from those countries. This in turn could result in significant additional costs to us when shipping our products to various customers in the United States and could require us to increase prices to our customers, which may reduce demand, or, if we are unable to increase prices, result in lowering our margin on products sold. We cannot predict the extent to which the U.S. or other countries will impose new or additional quotas, duties, tariffs, taxes or other similar restrictions upon the import or export of our products in the future, nor can we predict future trade policy or the terms of any renegotiated trade agreements and their impact on our business. The adoption and expansion of trade restrictions, the occurrence of a trade war, or other governmental action related to tariffs or trade agreements, or policies has the potential to adversely impact demand for our products, our costs, our customers, our suppliers, and the U.S. economy, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Capital Markets - Risk 2

Foreign currency fluctuations may reduce our competitiveness and sales in foreign markets.

The relative change in currency values creates fluctuations in product pricing for international customers. These changes in foreign end-customer costs may result in lost orders and reduce the competitiveness of our products in certain foreign markets. These changes may also negatively impact the financial condition of some foreign customers and reduce or eliminate their future orders of our products. In addition, a significant portion of our research and development expenditure takes place in China and India. Fluctuations in the currency values of those countries could negatively impact our operating expenses.

See a full breakdown of risk according to category and subcategory. The list starts with the category with the most risk. Click on subcategories to read relevant extracts from the most recent report.

FAQ

What are “Risk Factors”?

Risk factors are any situations or occurrences that could make investing in a company risky.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that publicly traded companies disclose their most significant risk factors. This is so that potential investors can consider any risks before they make an investment.

They also offer companies protection, as a company can use risk factors as liability protection. This could happen if a company underperforms and investors take legal action as a result.

It is worth noting that smaller companies, that is those with a public float of under $75 million on the last business day, do not have to include risk factors in their 10-K and 10-Q forms, although some may choose to do so.

How do companies disclose their risk factors?

Publicly traded companies initially disclose their risk factors to the SEC through their S-1 filings as part of the IPO process.

Additionally, companies must provide a complete list of risk factors in their Annual Reports (Form 10-K) or (Form 20-F) for “foreign private issuers”.

Quarterly Reports also include a section on risk factors (Form 10-Q) where companies are only required to update any changes since the previous report.

According to the SEC, risk factors should be reported concisely, logically and in “plain English” so investors can understand them.

How can I use TipRanks risk factors in my stock research?

Use the Risk Factors tab to get data about the risk factors of any company in which you are considering investing.

You can easily see the most significant risks a company is facing. Additionally, you can find out which risk factors a company has added, removed or adjusted since its previous disclosure. You can also see how a company’s risk factors compare to others in its sector.

Without reading company reports or participating in conference calls, you would most likely not have access to this sort of information, which is usually not included in press releases or other public announcements.

A simplified analysis of risk factors is unique to TipRanks.

What are all the risk factor categories?

TipRanks has identified 6 major categories of risk factors and a number of subcategories for each. You can see how these categories are broken down in the list below.

1. Financial & Corporate

Accounting & Financial Operations - risks related to accounting loss, value of intangible assets, financial statements, value of intangible assets, financial reporting, estimates, guidance, company profitability, dividends, fluctuating results.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights – risks related to things that impact share prices and the rights of shareholders, including analyst ratings, major shareholder activity, trade volatility, liquidity of shares, anti-takeover provisions, international listing, dual listing.
Debt & Financing – risks related to debt, funding, financing and interest rates, financial investments.
Corporate Activity and Growth – risks related to restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, execution of corporate strategy, strategic alliances.

2. Legal & Regulatory

Litigation and Legal Liabilities – risks related to litigation/ lawsuits against the company.
Regulation – risks related to compliance, GDPR, and new legislation.
Environmental / Social – risks related to environmental regulation and to data privacy.
Taxation & Government Incentives – risks related to taxation and changes in government incentives.

3. Production

Costs – risks related to costs of production including commodity prices, future contracts, inventory.
Supply Chain – risks related to the company’s suppliers.
Manufacturing – risks related to the company’s manufacturing process including product quality and product recalls.
Human Capital – risks related to recruitment, training and retention of key employees, employee relationships & unions labor disputes, pension, and post retirement benefits, medical, health and welfare benefits, employee misconduct, employee litigation.

4. Technology & Innovation

Innovation / R&D – risks related to innovation and new product development.
Technology – risks related to the company’s reliance on technology.
Cyber Security – risks related to securing the company’s digital assets and from cyber attacks.
Trade Secrets & Patents – risks related to the company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and to infringement claims against the company as well as piracy and unlicensed copying.

5. Ability to Sell

Demand – risks related to the demand of the company’s goods and services including seasonality, reliance on key customers.
Competition – risks related to the company’s competition including substitutes.
Sales & Marketing – risks related to sales, marketing, and distribution channels, pricing, and market penetration.
Brand & Reputation – risks related to the company’s brand and reputation.

6. Macro & Political

Economy & Political Environment – risks related to changes in economic and political conditions.
Natural and Human Disruptions – risks related to catastrophes, floods, storms, terror, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic/COVID-19.
International Operations – risks related to the global nature of the company.
Capital Markets – risks related to exchange rates and trade, cryptocurrency.

Become an Expert with TipRanks Premium

What am I Missing?

Make informed decisions based on Top Analysts' activity

Know what industry insiders are buying

Get actionable alerts from top Wall Street Analysts

Find out before anyone else which stock is going to shoot up

Get powerful stock screeners & detailed portfolio analysis

Subscribe Now See Plans & Pricing