Janice -- Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Actually I like his chances quite a bit. KE is a pretty smart guy. He will make his numbers (actually exceed them) for at least two quarters. That will take care of the underwriters. If he fails to make the Zip a standard to replace the floppy, he still has Acer up his sleeves. If the Acer Basic catches fire in the far east and the Zip doesn't make it as replacement for the floppy, IOMG may still be okay.
He still has another long shot ace up his sleeves. That is, the fixed hard drive is now super vulnerable. I don't think the Jaz drive will be the standard to replace the fixed hard drive. It doesn't have to be the standard. It could be one of several alternatives to replace the fixed hard drive and still generate huge revenues for IOMG.
I have postulated this hypothesis a number of times. Each time the boys have shot me down (I think because the idea came from a girl.) But just consiser this:
Before the PC came along, all disk storage were of the removable type. The PC came along and someone figured that you can't let the dummies fool around with the OS disk, so they decided to encase it and make it dummy proof. This presented a lot of problems for power users. That is why IBM and the other computer manufacturers never took the PC seriously. They thought that it was forever going to be a toy - to be used only by secretaries for word processing and spread sheets and little boys for games. Well, that has changed.
The removable disk drive can do ANYTHING that a fixed hard drive can do, and there many things that fixed hard drive can't do that removeable hard drives can. (For those that want to argue this point, just forget it, I don't have the time). The only problem was that the the removable hard drive did not have the capacity, performance capabilities, cost effectiveness, and the robustness that was required. I think KE will and/or has taken care of all these issues.
I think most of the boys grew up with the fixed hard drive and think that they can't live without it. But I think they will get over it.
Anyhow, have a happy 4th.
Mary |
