Hi Jon - A few points regarding "ZIP as standard"
<...There is only one thing that IOM could do to win the LS-120 battle...> There isn't a battle: LS-120 sales vs. ZIP sales = a fart in a thunderstorm.
<...They need to come up with a low-cost lower-capacity disk, that could at least compete with "old" prices of floppy disks. Say, under $1. Or, they can get the price of the 100M disks down to that price...>
The classic theories of supply and demand has shown that when ZIP first came out, customers were very happy to pay $19.95 for a disk. And as demand grew, supply grew enough that customers had enough voice to demand a lower price through their purchasing channels. Now, you can find disks for around $14.95 in the catalogs. Demand will grow, forcing supply up, forcing price down. Not likely that we'll reach $1, but there is no need to reach that price. Iomega is supplying 100Mb - not 1.44 and customers are quite happy, so far, to pay a premium for that (appox. 15X $$ for approx. 70X capacity) - at least I am - it's a fair trade.
<...A less-desirable alternative would be to build a dual Zip/floppy drive. I don't think it would be possible to get the Zip to accept a floppy in the Zip slot...>
It was NEVER possible to put a 5.25 disk into a 3.5 drive - nor was it ever necessary. And the evolution of 'puters saw the intial stages of:
1. 5.25 only
2. 3.5 + 5.25 (transition towards replacement)
3. 3.5 only
4. NOW, 3.5 + ZIP (transition towards replacement)
It's that simple, now go buy some IOM shares.
-MrB |
