>They claim to be using the "razor--razor blade" business model where >you distribute the razors very cheaply and then make money on the
>razor blades.
Yes, I understand. But (forgive me if I'm taking you too literally) did you really mean IOM makes *no* money on the razors? I do not recall a serious discussion of this before and would be quite surprised to learn that there's no money in the drives, even if the OEMs get them for $50 apiece.
The CD-RW technology you describe sounds interesting, but not a real threat, not yet anyway. Like other new technologies, it will get cheaper, but won't be financially competitive for some time. Those who use CDs for archival purposes probably won't need/want to re-write. They can use regular CD-ROMs or other, cheaper, media. Those who do want a lot of back and forth with their media have cheaper alternatives. I think a fair number of people will try it, but do not expect it to make a significant dent in the Zip market in the near future. Based on my admittedly small experience with writing CDs, I would expect this new technology to write fast but read slow. Finally, while writing CDs is not horribly difficult, it takes more work than popping in a Zip.
Nomai is more on my radar screen than CD-RW. Neither a major worry nor a mere mosquito, IMHO. Unleash the lawyers!
Cheers
Eve |
