To all: * LONG * This is a report on the web (from Business Wire,
through ZDNet). I have taken out items which don't (IMHO) directly
relate to IOMG products and/or competitors.
* Check out the table at the bottom. Predictions of 11M "high-capacity
flexible disk drives" in 1997, 25M (!) in 1999!
Received: September 13, 1996 09:00am EDT From: Business Wire
BW1016 SEP 13,1996 4:13 PACIFIC 07:13 EASTERN
( BW)(DISK/TREND) Fast growth markets attract new wave of removable
data storage products
Business Editors & Computer Writers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 1996--The
removable data storage field is a diverse mixture of products,
encompassing magnetic rigid disk drives, floppy disk drives, optical
disk drives and cards using semiconductor flash memory technology.
Six different product groups are included in the newly released
DISK/TREND Report on removable data storage, and three of the groups
are forecasted to achieve extremely high sales growth during the next
few years.
High capacity floppy drives are expected to have an outstanding
sales outlook as changing personal computer usage patterns make it
useful for an increasing share of PC users to own drives capable of
recording 100 megabytes or more on each disk. The DISK/TREND
forecast predicts that 25.5 million high capacity floppy drives will
be sold in 1999.
New applications are also expected to boost sales of magnetic
rigid disk cartridge drives to more than 9 million units in 1999.
<snip about flash cards>
Overall sales revenue for the six removable data storage product
groups {including flash cards, optical disks, and the 3.5" floppies}
is projected to increase from $2.7 billion in 1995 to $5.5 billion in
1999. The overall total unit shipments of the six heterogeneous
product groups is forecasted to grow from 85.4 million units in 1995
to 151.1 million in 1999.
Here are other highlights from the 1996 DISK/TREND Report on
removable data storage:
-- High capacity floppy drives are already seeing major shipment
increases, with 1995's 827,700 drive total climbing to 5.1
million drives in 1996. The major stimulus on current growth
has been the Iomega 3.5 inch "Zip" 100 megabyte drive. The
Zip drive capitalized on the right combination of capacity
and price to attract many personal computer users now becoming
nervous about their risks in failing to back up their new
higher capacity hard disks. Many users also need affordable
removable data storage devices which are suitable to keep
individual projects on individual disks, ready to be loaded
when needed. Additional high capacity floppy drive formats
now entering the market, some of which also provide backward
compatibility for standard 1.44 megabyte diskettes, are
expected to make this product area a major battlefield of
competing standards, as shipments move up to the projected
25.5 million drives in 1999.
<snip>
-- Traditional markets for magnetic rigid disk cartridge drives
have continued to grow, but the major sales expansion
opportunity for this product group during the next few years
will be in new markets. The availability of competitively
priced 3.5 inch rigid disk cartridge drives with capacities of
one gigabyte or more opens new opportunities in applications
such as video editing, multimedia mastering, and engineering
workstations, in addition to high-end consumer applications.
86.7% of the 9 million drives projected for 1999 are expected
to be 3.5 inch models, with the balance split between growing
2.5 inch drive shipments and the last of the 5.25 inch drives.
-- Shipments of small optical disk drives, mostly 3.5 inch
models, are expected to continue growing, reaching 1.3 million
units in 1999. Despite the availability in 1996 of new
erasable 3.5 inch optical drives in the 600 megabyte range,
small optical disk drives face difficult price competition
from rigid disk cartridge drives and high capacity floppy
drives. This factor is expected to limit annual shipment
increases to an average of only 14.4% in the 1997-1999 period.
-- Despite frequent claims by manufacturers of competitive
products that low capacity floppy drives will soon disappear,
the standard 3.5 inch floppy drive is expected to survive well
into the next century. But the new high capacity floppy
drives are expected to divert much of the annual increases in
shipments that standard 3.5 inch floppy drives derive from the
growing personal computer market. The 106.2 million 1.44
megabyte floppy drives forecasted for shipment in 1999 will
represent growth of only 2.6% over the previous year.
<snip>
1996 DISK/TREND REPORT
REMOVABLE DATA STORAGE
Forecast
Worldwide -------------------------------------
unit shipments 1995
in thousands Shipments 1996 1997 1998 1999
-------------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ----
Flash cards 859.1 1,566.0 3,311.3 6,841.9 10,739.5
PC Card
rigid disk drives 340.0 369.0 630.0 865.0 1,120.0
Rigid disk
cartridge drives 606.3 1,818.0 3,360.0 4,940.0 6,320.0
Small optical
disk drives 518.5 865.3 1,072.0 1,194.0 1,288.0
High capacity
flexible disk
drives 827.7 5,102.0 11,470.0 18,910.0 25,470.0
Low capacity
flexible disk
drives 82,225.0 89,728.0 98,069.0 103,548.0 106,200.0
-------- -------- --------- --------- ---------
TOTAL SHIPMENTS 85,376.6 99,448.3 117,912.3 136,298.9 151,137.5
+10.4% +16.5% +18.6% +15.6% +10.9%
Source: 1996 DISK/TREND Report |
