CEO And President Interview: GTX Corp. - Patrick Bertagna

July 12, 2010 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published Wireless Communications and Telecom Equipment Report offering a timely review of the Telecommunications sector. This Special Report contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. Please find an excerpt below.

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Patrick Bertagna is the Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of GTX Corp, and he is also the Co-Inventor of the company's patented GPS Footwear technology. His career spans 27-plus years of building companies in both technology and consumer-branded products. Mr. Bertagna began his career importing apparel from Europe and later went on to design and manufacture a line of clothing, accessories and footwear in over 20 countries. With sales exceeding 27 million, Mr. Bertagna's line sold to U.S. retailers such as JCPenney and Neiman Marcus.

TWST: Please start with a short history and overview of your company.

Mr. Bertagna: GTXO (GTXO) was founded in 2002. The company went public - stock ticker symbol is GTXO - in March of 2008. We are in the personal location and GPS tracking industry, an emerging, multibillion-dollar market. GTX Corp owns and operates three subsidiaries, which sell and license hardware, software and provide monthly subscription-based services. We have a growing IP portfolio, a global presence, we operate in 84 countries, have strong strategic partners and offer secure connectedness. GTX Corp is the "With You" company.

TWST: Would you elaborate on the applications of your products and discuss the trends you are seeing from customers and their end users? What impact do these trends have on your products?

Mr. Bertagna: The overall demand is growing. I mean, there's greater awareness, as demonstrated by the increase in activity and inquiries we receive daily. The trend is more and more people want this technology. There is no doubt about it. We are in the "Where-is?" business. Where is my child? Where is my father that has Alzheimer's? Where is my pet? Where is my high-value asset? Trend-wise, in terms of demand and awareness, it is growing. The impact of too many James Bond movies out there makes most people believe that this technology should be very inexpensive and basically a grain of sand or salt that you just eat and, aha, you become trackable anywhere in the world. So our biggest challenge really is the learning curve to educate our customers that this is still new technology with limitations, but it eventually will become ubiquitous and maybe in 15-20 years will be like James Bond. Right now it's a little bit more sophisticated, and complicated and more expensive, and it requires, like any new technology, an adoption curve.

TWST: How do you channel products to end customers?

Mr. Bertagna: Our business model is licensing. We have three different subsidiaries. Global Trek uses strategic partners and we embed our technology inside of either consumer-branded companies' products or business enterprise products and solutions. We have signed several licensing deals in the past three months, one with Aetrex, a shoe company, which will embed our technology inside medicinal shoes catering to the elderly population that suffer from dementia; the other is with MNX, a specialized freight forwarding company that will use our technology to monitor life science shipments and very high-valued assets. We take our technology, we partner with a company that's well entrenched in their specific vertical markets, and together we deliver a solution. We also deliver and sell directly to the consumer through the emerging apps business. Our subsidiary LOCiMOBILE sells directly to the consumer. Penetration and traction comes often through social marketing, social media and viral marketing, an area we are doing really well in. One of our apps is a blockbuster and has been on the iTunes top-grossing list and actually hit number two.

TWST: What would be the agenda one year ago? What did you achieve in that time frame?

Mr. Bertagna: Last year our agenda was to build out our apps business, add licensees and expand geographically. We set out in early January of 2009 to become a significant and dominant content provider in the emerging apps industry. We launched our first app in May of 2009, and by the end of 2009, we had six apps on the market across multiple platforms. In early 2010 we started gaining significant traction, and by end of this quarter, we are going to hit half a million users. With our core business, it was to get the channel partners, as I described, and to go land several contracts along with expanding our international presence. We signed two multimillion-dollar contracts in two targeted vertical markets - the elderly and high-value assets. We had set out an initiative to be in three vertical markets, of which we signed contracts in two, and we are in negotiations on several others. The other part of our business initiative last year was to grow geographically. We currently are operating in 84 countries worldwide. I would say everything we set out to do in early 2009 has been achieved in 2010.