Earnings Labs

Intellicheck, Inc. (IDN)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Aug 6, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Q2 2013 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Enrique Briz, DGI for Intellicheck Mobilisa. Thank you, Mr. Briz. You may begin.

Enrique Briz

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our 2013 second quarter conference call to discuss Intellicheck Mobilisa's results for the quarter ending June 30, 2013 and to discuss other business developments. In a moment, I will call upon our CEO, Dr. Nelson Ludlow, to lead today's call and introduce the members of the Intellicheck Mobilisa management team, who will be participating in today's conference call. Before I do that, I will take a few minutes to read the forward-looking statement. Certain statements in this conference call constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. When used in this conference call, words such as will, believe, expect, anticipate, encouraged and similar expressions as they relate to the company or its management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the company's management, identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs about future events. As with any projection or forecast, they are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances, and the company is under no obligation to -- and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of such changes, new information, subsequent events or otherwise. Additional information concerning forward-looking statements is contained under the heading of Risk Factors listed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management will use the defined financial term adjusted EBITDA in today's call. Please refer to the company's press release issued this morning for further definition of, and context, for the use of this term. I would now like to introduce Dr. Nelson Ludlow, Intellicheck Mobilisa's Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Ludlow?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Good morning, shareholders and investors, and good afternoon to our East Coast listeners. Let me introduce who we have on the call with us today. Our chairman, Admiral Mike Malone; and Director Woody McGee, are on the call. Also, our management team of Bill White, our CFO; Bonnie Ludlow, Senior Vice President and Director; Russ Embry, our Chief Technology Officer; and Mark Armstrong, our Senior Vice President for Sales, are joining me as well. The outline for today's call is to present the Q2 financials, to discuss our products and business plans for Q3 and the rest of 2013, and to allow an opportunity for the shareholders, for you to ask questions. Revenue for Q2 was about $1.72 million, which is well below Q2 for 2012, but above 5% growth from the previous quarter, Q1 of 2013. You may remember, 2012 was generally poor in revenue for the year as a whole, with the exception of a large TWIC program purchased by the Port of Hawaii, which was credited in Q2 of last year. We posted a loss on adjusted EBITDA of about $647k, and P&L was about $919k loss or $0.03 EPS loss, which was essentially identical and bottom line to Q1. So while the bottom line was flat and revenues were slightly up, the good news is that backlog was $1.14 million, which is up from the $782k the previous quarter, so up 46% over Q1. Even better news is that new bookings, and new bookings to me is one of the best indicators of future direction of the company, was $2.165 million, which was up from the $928k in Q1. So new bookings were up over 133%. Now some of you can see this company changing, so let me elaborate. First, the company is shifting focus away…

Billy Joe White

Analyst

Thank you, Nelson, and a good day to our shareholders, guests and listeners. I'd like to discuss some of the financial information that was contained in our press release for the second quarter ending June 30, 2013, which we released this morning. We anticipate that our quarterly report on Form 10-Q will be filed with SEC this afternoon. Revenues for our second quarter ending June 30, 2013, were $1.72 million compared to $3.44 million for the previous year. Identity Systems revenues decreased to $1.32 million compared to $2.84 million; and wireless revenues decreased $400,000 compared to $600,000 last year. Revenues for our second quarter ending June 30, 2013, were up 5% or $90,000 compared to our first quarter ended March 31, 2013. Identity System revenues decreased $30,000 and wireless revenues increased a $120,000 compared to last quarter. Booked orders for the 3 months ending June 30, 2013, were approximately $2.17 million, down 26% compared to $2.95 million in the second quarter of 2012 and up 133% from $930,000 booked in Q1 of 2013. Our gross profit was $960,000 for the quarter or 56% of revenues compared to $2.23 million or 65% of revenues for the second quarter of 2012. A decrease in GDP is primarily due to lower margins on the 2013 wireless revenue due to a large equivalent component to that project. Operating expenses, which consists of selling, general and administrative, and research and development expenses decreased 13% or $290,000 to $1.88 million for the 3 months ending June 30, 2013, to $2.17 million from the Q2 of 2012. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ending June 30, 2013, was a negative $640,000 compared to $350,000 in the quarter ending June 30, 2012. The company posted a net loss of $920,000 for Q2 compared to a net income of $60,000…

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Thank you, Bill. Appreciate that. Yes, we have a whole company focused on sales, and that's what it's all about. And you're right, Bill and I travel a lot in the sales and that's what we're focusing on. So thank you, Bill. As several of you know, the company policy is that we don't give out financial projections. However, you can see we've made several changes to our structure, our business model and we've added several products that are already launched and several more on the way. So let's take questions. We'll do our best to answer any question anyone has. [Operator Instructions] So at this point, let's begin. Operator?

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Amy Norflus with Neuberger.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

Can you -- a few questions and I guess, then I'll get back into queue. My first question is on the new listings. Can you kind of tell us a little bit what's in the new bookings and what of that is part of the January 14 announcement of the new retailer that was declined ID verification? Is that the same utility that you referenced in the script or is that a new relationship with the retailer?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Okay, yes, Amy. First of all, thank you and yes, definitely, it's a team effort and that's -- we have less people than we had before, but I think I'll quote somebody else in the company that said, "Yes, but we're all working twice as hard." So it is a team effort. The new bookings, we're pleased to see that come up. Actually, it wasn't one -- just one area, it came across all across the board. We had some wireless bookings that came in, we had 5 different TWIC ports had purchased the product and we also had commercial sales come up. May was better than April and June was significantly better than May. And we're starting off bids for Q3, but I don't want to say it's a trend yet, but we are trying to make it a trend, and so that's for sure.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

How long does it take for those new bookings to turn into revenue?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Okay. Well, they're all kind of all over the map on that. There's a few small ones that actually go out over a 2-year period, but most of them are recognizable in Q3 and some in Q4. So mostly it's right away.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

And are the new books -- so the new -- and then what about the backlogs? For the backlog, do I add the new bookings plus the backlog?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

The new bookings go into the backlog that we haven't recognized as revenue yet.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

So revenue will be backlog plus new bookings? So for the -- new revenue is going to be backlog plus bookings?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

As we start chipping away at the backlog, we'll convert that into revenue. And so a portion of that -- I mean, really -- and that's the right way to do it. The right way is to get Q3 revenue, we need to already have stuff in backlog and already in the hopper, so yes.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

So basically I can look that we have -- say it's about $3.3 million of business that should be recognized over some time frame?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Over some time frame, correct. We're not making projections for Q3. But to get Q3 revenue, yes, we -- in reality, you need to have it already in backlog. And you can see, our backlog was up 40-some percent and our bookings up 133%. That wasn't by accident, that was by direct effort by our salespeople.

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

And let me comment on the new retailer. The new retailer that we announced in January, we did some additional work for them and received another payment that credited into Q2. And what I really like about this new retailer is that it's a new bank for us as well. Most of these retailers have a bank behind them that underwrites your credit card. This is a new bank for us and in the past, when I was CEO before, one of the ways we were successful is we do a really good job at taking care of the customer. The bank notice that and actually, they led us to other customers and other retailers because they also want more people to get their credit cards. So it's a win for the bank, it's a win for the retailer and it's a win for us. So it's a good sales approach to do and our goal is to keep that customer as absolutely happy as we can and they got -- they did some more work with us in July -- or in June, rather, so we're very pleased with that.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

And this is a different retailer from what you talked about on your script. So there are 2 retailers?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

That's a different retailer. The retailer that I spoke about in my script is starting a pilot test, let's say, of 20 stores. But here's what's cool about it. There's another way we shifted the company. In the past, we would sell, and this is important, we would sell a big enterprise license for across all their stores. So they have to pay upfront. They got to do a CapEx, they got to bite off a lot up upfront. Now if I were them, and this is how it works, they would say, "Well, you know what, before we write you this big check, I want proof that this is going to work." So they test it out in their IT department and they'd say, "Well, let's go try it out in 20 stores." And then they say, "Cool, I like it. Now let's roll it out storewide." That's when we get paid. This is a mature product. This thing works. It's what I would call a shrinkwrap product. Our technology works, our softwares is good. So under this new $99 a year per point, per point-of-sale, per device, per lane, however they have it set up, and we do give discounts when it -- it's a big store buying a lot. They -- instead of doing a test, they will buy 20 stores. So if they're, let's say, trying hand devices out per 20 stores, so that's 200 devices, they will purchase 200 devices from us to test. And then if they grow, they will buy more and more and roll out. That's better for us because we get revenue right upfront rather than doing all this work for a test, we get paid because they're buying it. And it's credit for them because they'll just roll it out…

Operator

Operator

Our next question will be from Steve Rudd with USIP.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

One -- just, first, one observation and I think it's important. Obviously, you're selling, but I think you have an easier way to get to the market, which is to go through the State Liquor Authorities. State Liquor can mandate that where possible, those who are selling liquor are required to -- or where available, those selling liquor are required to have [indiscernible] and you can state that where you may be the only product in the town that does that and so that would naturally drive the customer to you and the liquor commissioner, once they put that out, everybody has to buy your product. So you can contact them directly and further, you can even for free, reach out to MAD and they have a very good network of people in each of those states and certainly have an interest -- mothers against drunk driving, certainly have an interest in underage sale. So sometimes it's easier to sell from the bottom up. So I would like to suggest that. The second thing is, just to be clear, that product basically has no -- very minimal revenue to the moment, is that correct?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Yes. Steve, this is Nelson. Yes, it's low revenue, very low revenue right now. As we start converting it, it would go to what I would say a modest -- I've never claimed it's a super large generator. However, you do see that is a large potential total available market and all of the things that you've mentioned are exactly the right way to do this. We're contacting large, alcohol-related national organizations. We've already spoke at a few of them. We're looking at value-added resellers, but looks like MAD and particularly the Liquor Control Board -- now all 50 states do it differently, so that's okay. We're used to having all 50 states doing it differently. That's one of the reasons we're in business because we look like software for handling all those driver's licenses and each state does do it differently. So that's the right approach, is to work with those organizations. You know what? What's the cost of reducing teenage drinking? Bill White and I were looking at things just yesterday, where it said 32% of all college kids by their sophomore year have a fake ID. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% of high school kids who drank alcohol within the last month. So it's a problem and we are trying to do this in a responsible way. This is not an item that's a Big Brother item or state will hold on to information. They don't even save the address, where the bar can't send out junk mail. People can't stalk them. So we're just providing the right information to protect the restaurant, and at the same time, to protect kids.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

Okay. So by the way, you can -- as you enter this political season [indiscernible] for an issue that is basically noncontroversial and they can seize on something like that and [indiscernible] But I'll [indiscernible] has to do with the issue rule [ph] on your set? Additionally, just for banks, I'm not quite sure I understand the bank products, but I -- to me, there seems to be a tremendous applicability to decide [indiscernible] and on the local branch, I've had 2 friends who were victims of identity theft. One an Asian person and a non-Asian person went into her bank with a fake ID and withdrew money. And the reader in banks, which has certainly has deep pockets is a tremendous loss saver. So there's a further idea. But let me ask you this, you have this shelf registration, you've amended it. What [indiscernible] are you issuing additional securities? Have you sounded out a market for pricing? Where are you really headed on that?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Okay. Steve, you cut out a little bit, but I think I heard most of it. But at least in our end, it was cutting in and out. The first item about trying to work noncontroversial items with legislation in Congress, I think that it is a potential and as this starts rolling out, that's an opportunity. For us, it's worth that. The banking industry that you talked about and fake identity, the only thing easier to make than a fake ID is probably a fake check, and in fact, there's software you can go to places and just get it online and write your own check. It's a really difficult problem for people with banks for sub $200, $250 checks and people want to cash them. It's really a problem for them and it's something that we need to go after. I don't quite know the perfect product yet for that, but we're working on it. And also online identity is also the perfect -- the big thing. So I've outlined in my call today what the next set of products are coming out over the next quarters. But the really holy grail on all this, obviously, is online identity and solving that problem with the banks. Huge numbers of dollars, problems in that area. Let me just say one more thing. Although it's not a huge moneymaker yet on barZapp, it is really cool in having people being able to take this product and be able to show someone else and we have someone take it and then show his boss and she was able to look at it and say, "Hey, what a cool thing. I see instantly what this technology is. I don't need to see a PowerPoint. I don't need to see information about it.…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Victor Castellan with Genvis.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst · Genvis.

My question is, and it may be a little bit premature to discuss this or to predict this, you started out with the with the #3 most paid for application on the Apple iTunes Store or application store. Now, those are converted over to a subscription, is that correct? Subscription service? In 30 days or beginning August 1? Is that a cut off date or do they...

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst · Genvis.

No. The product -- the $1.99 app, they can just use for as long as they want. It's a demo. It's a limited product and isn't time limited. In fact, under Apple's rules, you're not allowed the time limit any the app. But you are allowed to limit it by features. And so it's limited in features and it's limited to only 10 scans a day.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst · Genvis.

Okay. How many -- I don't know, but how many subscriptions have we -- like I said, it might be premature, we're -- and we're only in the first week of August, but has there been any subscriptions to a larger platform? Did they have...

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst · Genvis.

There have been, and we had some people already convert to annual subscriptions within a single digit percentile of transfer over, which is not unexpected for an initial launch and not unexpected for -- when you first launch a product, you get a lot of people going, "Wow, what is this? I want to see what it is." We had different groups download it and as we start working with their the national organizations, that's when I would expect we would get a better conversion rate of people finding us through subscriptions. And we're going to use with direct sales to go after national restaurant chains and these national alcohol reselling groups. But the market's big, 6.2 million people do something with alcohol that need to look an ID. So it's not a trivial sized market.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is a follow-up from Amy Norflus with Neuberger.

Amy Norflus

Analyst

Yes. Nelson, can you talk a little bit about who your proprietary technology or proprietary patent -- I mean, the type of competition and a little bit about your advantage in the marketplace with all the stuff that you're having, with all these products that you have?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Yes, Amy, good question. Yes, we have 14 patents. We have -- let me get the numbers right on this, we have 11 U.S., 2 Canadian, and 1 U.K. patent. We had 10 more pending and I've been working on a couple more that we intend to file over time. Of course, it doesn't mean they're going to be granted and all that. But 14 of them aren't [indiscernible] granted. And there's some good patents on this. One of them is, is that we have the jurisdiction capabilities and knowing that it's in Nebraska and knowing that Nebraska does it differently than Ohio and certain features that are embedded in it. And actually, states make mistakes from the published format that they already proposed that they were going to do. And we use that for validation that it is [indiscernible]. I know it's kind of odd, but we look for those almost like fingerprint-like items, buried inside the barcode and the formatting of how they stored it. So that's all in our regional patent. We have another patent that talks about using the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators that [indiscernible] has issued a format of how states should do it, and reading that format and parsing information and doing something with it is also part of our patent. Age-related products: calculating whether you're 18, 21 and how you calculate that and comparing the ID is another one of the patents. Comparing 2 travel documents is one of our more recent patents. And in it, the patent examiners specifically used the example of comparing a driver's license or a passport to a boarding pass. So we have a very rich set of patents. When I was CEO of Mobilisa and I approached Intellicheck to do a no-cash combination of the…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Bernini, a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

Nelson, I look at the backlog, there's really a significant advancement, and congratulations on that. As far as the barZapp, I absolutely agree. I think it's one of your greatest marketing tools you have available on the Apple Store because it creates dialogue, people exchange it, and you're allowing the other people to market it for you, so congratulations. The one question I have is on the TSA for the TWIC readers. What is the -- could you repeat the time line again for the recommended time frame for the initial implementation in the number of ports and the second time frame? Because I truly believe that's a unique opportunity.

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Yes. Joe, thank you and thank you, Joe. In the past, you've given me some good help and advice on the gaming industry as a potential market and the things that we're discussing to figure out how to go into that market as well. To address your first comment, I appreciate that. I do believe it's a good marketing tool. We ended up in USA TODAY because of that marketing tool. And so barZapp, I think people realize, "Well I didn't know I could just use a camera and take a photo of it, scan it and see how it quick it works." So it's really getting the word out to the masses now, to the public of how our technology works. On the TWIC program, the TWIC program was stalled a couple of times, as the shareholders on this call probably realize. There's been a revitalization of it. In 2009 -- in April 2009, they required all the workers there to have the cards. So this has been quite some time going on. To me, that was the hard part. They already did that tough part of telling workers to take time off from work, go to this registration center, pay $132. The whole bunch of groups were unhappy with that. They had to do background checks, and then they have to carry this card. That's tough. 2.1 million people already have this card. So they've already crossed that hurdle. The hurdle of requiring ports to buy some readers is less in dollars, it's less in cost. It's a much more achievable step. So I really think -- that I'm glad they were finally getting in their. Here's the thing. There's a thing called NPRM. You can -- people can Google that, perhaps we could actually just post that…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from David Rich, a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

Nelson, I've been on this call now for about 28 quarters, and this is the first time I've really been happy. I think you guys have done a great job. And I'm sure hoping that when you guys decide and maybe your own stock is worth buying, a step-up of $0.75. I get one question almost every day, in fact twice, when I've been on this call, and I'm not beating up on this. But apparently, we're still paying a PR firm a tremendous amount of money. People keep telling me it's $11,000 to $15,000 a month. I have no idea what it is nor do I care. But I really feel and they feel that we're not getting exposure to places we should get exposure to. There's never anything on Seeking Alpha, Fly on the Wall, Briefing.com, Motley Fool, Wall Street Journal. We just don't seem to get there. I just wanted your comment on that.

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Okay. Dave, thank you. Yes, on the PR front, we pay $10K a month is what we do, and that's for both investor relations and for PR. So it's not just for PR. So in helping us file things, in helping us so that there's always a person to speak to with shareholders, the investor relations firm does that. We have presented in the past to some conferences, maybe some of you have seen that. We also probably -- Bill White and I have done some presentations to shareholders around the country. And I think I was at one a few months ago with you in New York City. So I welcome that. I like speaking with shareholders. I want to have those opportunities to mate this with that. Also they do press, and when I first became CEO, after combining the company, we had a different PR firm. And I think you and one of your colleagues was not too enamored with that PR firm, and I shared that view. And then for a short time, we had none. And I think you guys -- you asked about that either. And I agree with that as well. I do like DGI. They got us in U.S. News and World Report. They got us into the College edition of USA TODAY, MSNBC, Investor Daily News. We're not always getting to all the locations that we like, but this is momentum building. It's not just a one-day thing. When you do a product launch, in my opinion, it's not just the press release you put out in 1 day and how many hits you get the very next day. It's a concerted effort to push more and more and more. I have almost daily been on an interview with some --…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Ernest Caponigro [ph], a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

Nelson, we've had a technology portfolio that is quite extensive, and I would think that in this environment that we're in right now, well, our phones should be ringing off the hook. But there's been discussions in several areas where people say that our technology is passé, that other people have patents and other people have scanners and readers. Can you address really what's very unique about our product and why the other barcode readers out there and the other scanners and the other companies with tweak products out there, may be inferior to us? And if someone else is using our patent, what you're doing about it to protect our patent and go after those people who might be fraudulently using our patents, and what the potential of that might be?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Yes, let me thank you for that update, and I wrote these questions down. So let's talk about the patent. So the patents work for reading a driver's license. If you're looking at that barcode and how you decode it and how you parse it, it doesn't matter whether you do it on a desktop, on a Macintosh, on a cell phone, on a Motorola barcode scanner or however you do it. It's the software of that parsing and decoding process, that's what our patent is about. So when people claim that no, our patent doesn't cover that, they're wrong. It does cover the meaning of that barcode of the driver's license. It does not matter what hardware platform it's on. So let's talk about what we're doing to protect those patents. There was a small company that was also trying to sell a reader on Apple. They also wanted to go after alcohol-related areas. We recently sent them a cease-and-desist letter. We're going to protect our patents, and we're serious about this. This is -- the intellectual property is one of the most important parts of a company. We're a technology company, and our IP was developed by a lot of hard work a long time ago. And our attorneys, our employees and our shareholders have invested a lot in it and we have to protect it. TWIC reader, let's talk about that for a second. The TWIC reader itself, a TWIC card -- this is odd and a lot of shareholders or just general public don't understand this salient point, which is a passport and a TWIC is a government issued ID, even a military card for that matter. And how you read that is not necessarily patentable because it's an open standard that they want everyone to…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Amy Norflus with Neuberger.

Amy Norflus

Analyst · Neuberger.

Sorry, for the questions, but -- sorry, for keeping -- going. The restaurant that you guys signed, the restaurant chain, does that mean -- does that continue -- when you say that's a modest source of revenue, does that change the dynamics of the revenue stream?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst · Neuberger.

Okay, maybe I misspoken, and I'm glad you asked that follow-up question, Amy. No, we haven't signed up a restaurant chain. We're -- we've only been in the first month of barZapp. So we have not signed up a restaurant chain. We are speaking -- sales guys are speaking to restaurant chains and that's a good sales stream to go into. But I've not signed up a restaurant chain. I think what I meant to say on your last question is did we sign up a new retailer, which is different. And yes, we are doing a test in August of a retailer using our tablet system, where they hold up an iPad or a ET1 by Motorola and they can just scan the drivers's licenses to that.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Bernini [ph], a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

Nelson, please excuse, I just -- I had one other question that I forgot to ask it. Since you become TSA sanctioned, does this possibly open up an opportunity into the future for airport security, since you have the access to central database and you've been approved?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Yes. Okay, great, great question, Joe. Okay. TSA has a lot of responsibilities. And so this product is for protecting ports. There is some overlap with the thing called hazardous materials for truck drivers that carry certain things for other ports or some locations in airports. It's that section where they're using this certificate -- the TWIC reader, the transportation worker ID card, and that's what it's for. It's good in that it proves that we know how to write software. It proves that we know what we're doing and it proves that our product has passed all these tests from TSA. So from that point of view, Joe, absolutely. So let's talk about the part you're talking about. Scanning a driver license in the airport. Homeland Security, 3 times has tried to launch a program where they're going to read a driver's license and that was called Credential Authentication Technology, CAT, and then the boarding pass system. And it was kind of linked, the 2 together. We were one of the first-round finalists for that. They've done some testing, lots of the big guys were involved, lots of it had to do with kiosks and the format of how it's supposed to go -- I mean the hardware end of it, like what battery you put in, what screen. Why? Because the public has to use it, and TSA has got to use it. We keep monitoring that program. We submitted to that. We recently were asked by TSA as, I don't want say a finalist, but they've asked for request for information and we responded to that and we're successful. And they asked us to present to them just a couple of weeks ago, which we did. That program had 3 starts and 3 false starts, and it doesn't mean that the government isn't going to do it. We keep monitoring it. I know there's been some people speculating on boards and places as if the program was already launched, but they really view the research -- it keeps starting and stopping. The government is looking at other things as well, like pre-check, which has been successful and is launching in areas. But the long answer, we're monitoring it. We're aware of it. And we're one of the -- we're a contender, I guess I'd say. We're still in the mix. But in -- to answer your first question, does this help us? Yes. Because it proves we're successful -- if we're successful in TWIC, it only just demonstrates to the customer, TSA, that we're a responsible, serious company that provides the right technology.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Erik Barbara [ph], a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

A couple questions. One on the TWIC readers, I think you mentioned that you had a couple dozen ports contact you since you received 140 point approval. But do you view those as sort of short-term coming sales? Or are those ports preparing for the inevitable mandate over the next 2-year period, so it's just something that they're getting out in front of? And then the other thing is you mentioned online transaction is sort of the holy grail of what you're trying to do with the ID service. I was wondering if mobile payment transactions were also a part of that plan? If you listen to someone like Jeff Dorsey [ph] talk about Square, he said the hardest part for him is just getting -- storing data from door for various retailers. And if you go to any major city, a lot of retailers will ID even simple credit card transactions for customers. Is there some way -- or is there some kind of incorporating your ID verification software with some type of mobile payment processing, either with upfront pays or just with local retailers?

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Erik, very good questions. Okay, let me take just the simple one first. The TWIC sales and the timing of them. Since we've announced that TSA has put us on their list just 8 days ago. Yes, we've ramped up TWIC sale -- our effort into that, because many ports were waiting to see who's going to be on the list. I mean, if I were a port, that's what I would do. I wouldn't buy and tell people to start coming out in the list. I mean, so the fact that we did it, now it gives them opportunity. We have a significant ramp-up of interest in TWIC sales -- of TWIC ports. We've already had several of our salespeople visit ports just in the last week. And we have 3 different people that are all not in the office right now because they are all presenting to ports on our TWIC program. So my expectation is from short-term to get it. I'm going to wait until the last millisecond that I have to do it, and then I'll do it reluctantly. Well, there's always some in the technology life cycle putting energy into this, making it happen, and we're right there. So my view is it's sale soon, all the way throughout that 2 and 2.5 years cycle. The online transaction, online proof of who you are is the holy grail. It is something we're working on. The groups that you're talking about with the financial transactions, we're talking to the various groups in it, and I won't name specific company names and specific to what we're doing. But in the long haul, believe me, it's something we're aware of. Our company's strength is innovation and new products. And I understand #1 -- the #1 goal of the…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. At this time, I would like to turn the call back over to management for closing comments.

Nelson Ludlow

Analyst

Well, appreciate the shareholders being on the call. I especially appreciate the questions. As you can see, we're innovating. We're bringing out new products, and we're making progress slowly, but surely. And we're going to keep heading in that direction. We will say more, as products begin to launch. And we're going to push on our Software-as-a-Service for recurring revenue stream. Again, thank you, all, and appreciate your questions. Have a good day.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines At this time, and thank you for your participation.