(BSNS WIRE) Optical and Removable Disk Drives: Computer Growth Markets A
Optical and Removable Disk Drives: Computer Growth Markets Attract a Diverse
Group of Disk Drives, Including Both Winners and Losers
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1999--The
computer industry's rapid growth and diversity of applications has
stimulated the development of numerous types of disk drives which
enable users to remove data from systems so that it can be organized
by individual projects, stored in a safe place, or exchanged with
others. 1999 worldwide sales revenues will top $10 billion for all
types of disk drives which offer removability, with shipments of more
than 260 million drives, according to the new DISK/TREND report on
optical and removable disk drives.
Disk drives from 61 manufacturers are included in the report,
including CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives, CD/DVD writable drives, other
read/write optical disk drive formats, rigid disk cartridge drives,
card format rigid disk drives, high capacity floppy drives and low
capacity standard floppy drives.
The sales outlook for the nine disk drive product groups included
in the report is a mixed bag. DVD-ROM drives are projected to pass up
CD-ROM drives in shipments within two years, excellent growth is
forecast for writable CD/DVD drive formats, miniaturized hard disk
drive cards will develop entirely new markets, shipments of standard
1.44 megabyte floppy drives will peak within two years, and
high capacity floppy drives will continue a strong growth pattern.
Here are other highlights from the 1999 DISK/TREND Report on
optical and removable disk drives:
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-- DVD-ROM drive shipments got off to a slow start due to format
uncertainties, relatively high prices, and the limited selection
of content available on DVD disks, but the pace started to pick
up in 1998. Shipments in that year jumped to 5.7 million drives,
and the rapid growth now underway is projected to result in
shipments of 92.8 million drives in 2002. DVD-ROM drive shipments
will exceed the level for CD-ROM drives within two years and by
2002 will be three times the level for CD-ROM drives. Rapidly
declining prices and performance improvements for DVD-ROM drives
will make drive customers the big winners in this product
transition, as DVD-ROM drives go through the same rapid product
cycles of speed improvements and price declines that have
characterized the CD-ROM market in recent years.
-- Writable optical disk drives include numerous formats, using
disks ranging from 3.5 to 12 inches in diameter, but the type now
enjoying rapid growth is the CD-RW. Available since 1997, CD-RW
drives can use either write-once or rewritable disks. Falling
prices and improved availability of CD-RW drives have made this
format the leading growth product among all types of writable
optical disk drives, at least for a few years. However, by 2002
significant growth in drive shipments is also expected for DVD
rewritable formats and for new high capacity rewritable drives
using combinations of optical and magnetic recording
technologies.
-- Although numerous product announcements have been made during the
last few years, the only high capacity floppy drives currently
produced in quantity are the Iomega 100/250 megabyte Zip and 40
megabyte Clik! drives, plus the 120 megabyte SuperDisk, backed by
several companies. In spite of confusion on interchange
standards, 12.7 million drives were shipped in 1998, with growth
to 34.3 million drives forecasted for 2002. More drive
manufacturers are expected to join the fray by 2002, and
miniaturized models such as the Clik! are expected to get off to
a promising start with producers of mobile equipment, such as
digital cameras.
-- Despite continued predictions of imminent death by producers of
competitive products, the low capacity standard 1.44 megabyte
floppy drive is still shipping in large quantities. It's capacity
is adequate for typical word processing applications and most
system manufacturers consider today's prices nominal. Shipments
are projected to finally peak in 2001, with a slow decline in the
following years.
-- Removable formats for rigid magnetic disk drives have had a long
history, going back more than three decades. In recent years, 3.5
inch disk cartridge drives and 1.8 inch drives in PC Card formats
have been the principal products, but the limited size of the
specialized markets for these drives has held down shipments and
forced many drive manufacturers out of the business. The new
element in 1999 is the initial availability of one inch drives in
CompactFlash Card formats, such as IBM's "microdrive." These
drives are targeted at a variety of mobile equipment
applications, with increasing shipments projected during the next
few years.
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In addition to revenue and unit shipment projections for nine
types of disk drives, the DISK/TREND Report provides statistics and
analysis on cumulative shipments, competitive market shares of
manufacturers, and a review of competing data storage technologies.
The report also contains basic product specifications for 290 CD/DVD
read-only disk drives, 45 CD/DVD writable disk drives, 9 rigid disk
cartridge drives, 8 card format rigid disk drives, 42 high capacity
flexible disk drives, and 53 low capacity flexible disk drives.
Profiles are provided on 78 existing and former manufacturers of
optical and removable disk drives, including 22 with corporate
headquarters in the United States, 51 in Asia, and 5 in Europe.
The new study on the worldwide optical and removable disk drive
industry was released as part of the 1999 DISK/TREND Report, a
detailed annual business review of the worldwide disk drive industry
published by DISK/TREND, Inc. A separate report on rigid disk drives
was released in July, and a study on disk drive arrays will be
published in October.
The 1999 DISK/TREND Report on optical and removable disk drives
is priced at $2,325. Subscriptions to the complete 1999 DISK/TREND
Report, including individual reports on rigid disk drives, optical and
removable disk drives, and disk drive arrays are available
individually or at the discounted price of $6,240 for the complete set
by contacting DISK/TREND, Inc., 1925 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA
94043, or through the company's web site, www.disktrend.com.
For additional information, see the attached shipment summary, or
call Jim Porter or Bob Katzive, 650/961-6209.
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1999 DISK/TREND REPORT
OPTICAL AND REMOVABLE DISK DRIVES
Sales revenues -------------Forecast-------------
in millions of 1998
U.S. Dollars Shipments 1999 2000 2001 2002
-------------- ---------- ---- ---- ---- ----
CD-ROM 4,290.8 3,529.5 2,568.2 1,604.7 803.4
optical disk drives
DVD-ROM 650.5 1,198.9 1,877.0 3,189.4 4,241.8
optical disk drives
CD/DVD writable 1,306.5 2,207.8 2,772.1 3,180.8 3,337.0
optical disk drives
Read/Write optical
drives, less than 611.5 606.3 569.0 464.2 356.2
4 gigabytes
Read/Write optical
drives, more than 25.0 30.6 139.7 387.4 624.9
4 gigabytes
Rigid disk 271.1 180.6 187.9 210.5 242.5
cartridge drives
Card format 36.4 46.0 58.1 80.2 96.7
rigid disk drives
High capacity 846.8 944.8 1,034.9 1,069.3 1,073.3
flexible disk drives
Low capacity 1,620.1 1,491.9 1,381.1 1,301.6 1,152.0
flexible disk drives ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
TOTAL REVENUES 9,658.7 10,236.4 10,588.0 11,488.1 11,927.8
Source: 1999 DISK/TREND Report
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CONTACT: DISK/TREND, Inc., Mountain View
James N. Porter, 650/961-6209 (President)
jporter@disktrend.com
Robert H. Katzive, 650/961-6209 (Vice President)
bkatzive@disktrend.com
www.disktrend.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED PUBLISHING PRODUCT
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