Sam,
Thank you for the kind words. Still feel like I am tightroping on the border of sensationalism.
I have two questions to pose to the thread...
1) Nelson Chan was question on the VCALL about marketing plans for CF as competition from other CF producers and non-flash solutions unfolds. He commented that "design-ins" were a key marketing tool. Personally, I believe that the design-ins, the OEM endorsements and the bundling agreements are crucial, but don't see how this has been thoughtfully parlayed into a marketing effort. Similarly, he was asked about the ratio of card sales per CF device sold. They mentioned an "attachment ratio" or something like that that is a measuring stick some analysts use. For example, a Zip drive would equate to 7.6 Zip discs sold (disclaimer: these are fictitious numbers), or a ratio of 7.6-to-1 for unit/unit sales. Mr. Chan was taken off guard by the question, perhaps. He stated that a knowledgeable sales person has the customer leaving the store with 2 cards--one in the bundle and one off the shelf. As a shareholder I would hope that the ratio could be driven higher.
Does anybody have ideas as to how this could be accomplished?
2) I read an interesting article from Bloomberg regarding the company that founded the "FlashPath technology" for SmartMedia that allows for use in the floppy drive. Believe it or not this company is going public?!?
SmartDisk Files to Raise $40 Million Through Initial Offering
At present, SmartDisk derives about 90 percent of its revenue from a single electronic device called the FlashPath. Although other applications are under development, the FlashPath is primarily used in connection with digital cameras.
The company did $15.3 million in sales last year and ended up with a loss of something like $5.4 million selling these things primarily to Olympus and Fuji to be a bundled item.
The company is apparently working with Sony and Sanyo to develop a new FlashPath device for Memory Stick(?)
The article warns that doubt about consumer interest in digital cameras could dampen the company's projections. (When will people get tired of saying this?)
The following warning was also mentioned in the SEC filing. It suggests that a standard PC accessory (such as a SmartMedia bay) would totally deflate company sales. It also warns of "a new technology"...
"Should one of these cards...(refers to Sony's MemoryStick or Toshiba SmartMedia)...or a new technology...(no contender mentioned)...emerge as an industry standard, flash memory card readers could be built into PCs, eliminating the need for our products...", SmartDisk said in the SEC filing.
I think we all know that CompactFlash is already here and it isn't new. That fact was conveniently left out of the piece.
Does anybody know if SanDisk profits from the sale of ImageMate and what the annualized earnings are??? Could they be near $15.3 million?
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