RE: More News from PC Expo
There are a few additional piece of information from the AOL Board about the PC Expo. (Two separate messages below.) I've bolded a few items that I haven't seen here:
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Subj: This is Huge & Wow!!!!!!
Date: 17 Jun 1997 15:47:19 EDT
From: Cynicalguy
Where do I begin. What a day at the Expo so far. First of all, my badge went over very well.
William Bronsteen
Title: LS-120 Funeral Director
Company: Imation Hype Machine
Someone at Iomega even took a picture. It got many laughs.
First news before dirt.
The Ditto Max. My call was right, just 9 months early. Shcuks. Remember the DVT or 10 gig tape product I mentioned back last fall? Wham-here it is. And is it ever beautiful.!!!!!!!! Can read and write 3.5 meg, 5 meg, 7 meg, and 10 meg tape!!!!!!!!!! Also can read all other tape sizes. The slide out motorized drawer makes this all possible, and that is the coolest part. The guy who invented it told me they kept that part so secretive, that R&D didn't even tell the rest of Iomega about it. (The motorized drawer that is)
Seeing the Max up close is amazing. And the price will destroy anyone who dares compete. I asked on of the heads of the tape department if this will help Iomega gain market share in tape. His response "we now own tape, this just makes it even better".
The Buz!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a product!!! It is hardware, and software, at a price to kill. A SCSI card (value from brochure $249), software (MGI Videowave, SE Plus, Pictureworks HotShots and Iomega RecordIt $299 value) and a Video Card ($400 value) all for $299. And the purple thing with lots of holes is so cool!!!! Kind of like Barney after a jail term. :) AV input and output.
Color Zip disks have arrived. Just like floppies, now there is more than just blue. Yellow, green, red and others.
Huge signs above the Expo entrance. I Am Standard & Floppy Scmoppy.
Iomega new hire: a guy who headed up the LS-120 program for Mitsubishi for 3 years. "Left a sinking ship for the sailing ship" Claims LS-120 has no chance-thus his career change.
Kodak digital cameras all over booth. Anyone doubt that they will OEM n hand? They will. Trust me. :)
Kim & Tim were eating lunch at the Rainbow Room today-those who know why should be happy. :)
From what I gathered corporate sales are well ahead of internal estimates-and Iomega is kicking butt all around.
There are new products coming. New hardware, and even more new software.
The beauty of all these products that we now have (today included) is that they all interrelate to each other. With an installed base of 9 million drives, these new products piggy back off them-a great hot-list to market too. And after buying these new products (Buz, Recordit) the use of them causes more media to be used up. What a concept.
Watched demo of Record it. Very cool again. Can copy your audio CDs at 12x playing speed onto a Zip or Jaz. At the highest quality level, the Zip can hold 45 minutes and the Jaz 450 minutes. And to my ears and the programmer's, the sound sounded better off the Zip. Don't try this on your LS-120.
Hung out with Howard Rosencrans and the boys from Brous. They really like the Buz. Did I say really? And they also had more fun stuff to say. If anyone doubts that the shorts do illegal, bad things to hurt Iomega-you won't after speaking to the people who know. Howard also mentioned that there was a "short-report" going around last week. That is what brought Iomega back under 21. It is full of LS-120 crap. Full of twisted truths and lies about the LS-120. LOL.
More to come-next to breath now!!!!
As for my investment in Iomega-I am more confident now, more than ever after being at this show. The future is much brighter than even I imagined. I too was surprised by how strong some of this stuff is. I will not sell a share, and you can't make me. :)
Bill Bronsteen
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Subj: Notes From PC Expo
Date: 17 Jun 1997 18:24:27 EDT
From: TMF Turk
AOL - not present at show, therefore no live updates
Iomega
Hint that Jaz is to be upgraded soon to 2 gigs.
No change in Zip
Caddy for h-hand not working yet...not a done deal that it will be used.
n-hand by 1st half of 1998 according to flyer
n-hand demos were not working, mock-ups only
One guy thought that Mitsubishi was working on a competitor to n-hand...magnetic drive in small form.
Zip CPQ SKU outselling all LS-120 CPQ SKUs by a very wide margin (one guy estimated 10x, but I thought it was a bit "fluffy")
New CPQ SKUs coming
Colored Zip disks
Buz - cool toy, available Q4...estimating 250,000 to be sold, designed to get more stuff digitized and inputted...to sell more Zip and Jaz disks...it is very purple
Ditto Max - new high capacity tape in slide out door, designed to "take control" of the tape...read ..."try to make this proprietary". Ship date in September.
Matsushita has shipped over 100,000 drives and will have "massive" ramp up by December (stressed "massive" 3-4 times)
Imation - Said hard to compete with iomega due to advertising and visibility...
Look for Gateway OEM in future.
Upgrade to 240 megs by Q1 1998
Ship date for laptop in mid-late August
Had speed comparision set up for internal LS-120 v. PP Zip
We have not seen the last of them, should not be written off as quickly as I had in the past...if they beat iomega to market with laptop product, they will take sales (based on conversations with others)
Mitsubishi
Small mini-floppy shown at prior show, did not have it here...shown in Japan also...not in production
Didn't know what head-to-head comparisons were of Zip v. LS-120 in CPQ machines
Micron
Consumer line is now over 50% Zip inclusion, business is not
Product manager said will be 11 million Zips sold by year end (may be quoting magazines)
Felt that after 10 million was hit, it will be a standard, then 12-24 months to see floppies become an external PP option.
Jaz - very successful
Very excited about the products
Sony
No competition seen for n-hand (nor any n-hand visible)
Zip SKUs present
Olympus
Refused to talk about next generation cameras...presently have only internal storage that must be downloaded
Eagles Nest
Was told that LS-120 was outselling Zip (my bro was told the opposite on seperate visit)
Epson
Cameras have no removable storage device
Fujitsu
Will bundle Zips with laptops in August, will have internal laptop annoucement in November.
Hitachi
Was told they will sell whatever super-floppy was ready first, including the LS-120. 2nd guy told me he saw strong consumer demand for Iomega products.
VST
Will ship laptop Zips for Macs in September - was confident of this despite long delays...said they had Swiss watchmakers come into the States to help miniaturize the parts
2 Apple guys chatting while I was there, talking about Jaz failure rates for carts. Said it was important to reformat the disks before they are used.
Casio
Currently with 40% of the digital camera market. Neither guy I spoke with has seen an n-hand model, and they aren't stopping anything waiting for it. One guy said that if they can succeed in doing it, the market would explode for it. No other similar (cheap, magnetic) media that he knows of
Avatar
The Shark is a great piece of industrial design, very sharp. Just as Zip blew away the old SyQuests with great design, so too is this a huge leap over Zip/Jaz. Very small, with external and internal available (as OEM to laptop in Texas Instruments). Upgradeable to 500 megs easily. This should sell some drives, despite price/storage being trapped between Zip and Jaz.....in the right hands (rich Seagate-type hands) this could be a very hot seller. No seperate power supply and small size are huge plusses for laptop market, where price is less important.
Those are my rough notes, hope they come in handy for whatever purpose they have...I have most of the names of the people I spoke to. I'll give my impressions in another post.
Eric Turkewitz
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A few negatives (n.hand delays and problems) but tons of positives (color Zip cartridges, more products coming soon, laptop Zip coming soon, Ditto Max coming in September, interest in Iomega still rising, shorts still shorting, new hire from LS-120 team).
- Michael Coley
- i1.net |
