ANALYSIS/ Zip races ahead of magneto-optic drives (2)
Source: Nikkei English News
Nikkei English News via Individual Inc. : Established in 1980, Utah-based Iomega first sold a storage device with
capacities of 20M to 40M.
However, the product flopped. After extensive market research, the company concluded that what consumers most
wanted was a 100M device whose drive cost no more than 200 dollars and the disk 20 dollars.
It debuted Zip in the U.S. in March 1995.
In Japan, Zip disks are being sold by Fuji, Hitachi-Maxwell Ltd., Memorex Telex Japan Ltd. and Seiko Epson. Fuji
and Hitachi-Maxwell have the lion's share of the market.
Fuji, Hitachi-Maxwell and Memorex also sell Iomega Zip drives. Seiko Epson began selling its own drives this
February.
"We target users of digital cameras," a Seiko Epson official says.
Zip's major drawback is its incompatibility with floppy devices. At 3.7x3.5 inches, Zip disks are also much larger that
floppy disks.
In addition, competition among data-storage makers is heating up.
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. of the U.S. and Matsushita-Kotobuki
Electronics Industries Ltd. are marketing a 120M floppy disk called LS-120. Hitachi-Maxwell is expected to
introduce its own LS-120 in August.
MO drive makers are upgrading their products, and DVD-RAMs with a data-storage capacity of 2.6 gigabytes or
more are expected to come to market in the near future.
Never one to rest on its laurels, Iomega is developing 200M-300M Zips while studying ways to cut prices of Zip
drives.
Some analysts believe that Zip will succeed floppy drives as a main storage device for PCs, while others say it is still a
toss-up. (End)
<<Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. -- 06-22-96>>
[06-22-96 at 11:26 EDT, Copyright 1996, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.] |
