Several points:
1) The ex-Conner guy running the desktop division that I was referring to is a Vice President of Engineering. He has nothing to do with assembly. In fact, Seagate has 3 VP's of engineering from Conner: one for mainstream/desktop, one for mobile, and one that both of those report to. It IS these guys that make the decisions about what technologies to roll into what new products.
2) My concern about trailing in areal density is not based on just the products they have out right now, I can point to several years worth of products dating back to the Conner days, they've been consistently behind the curve. It's a mindset with them. They've been behind ever since tri-pad heads came out. WD in particular has done quite well since then. They figured it out and worked through the problems faster than anybody. Look what their stock price has done since then.
3) Having the latest head (or media) technology does not equal being ahead or even caught up on the density curve. It's how fast you can take that technology to market that counts. Everyone pretty much has the same access to technology, except IBM, which has proven repeatedly that they can't compete in the cutthroat desktop arena. Disk drive development cycles are typically difficult and fraught with problems that have to be worked through. It's not unusual to take 9-12 months to bring a new product to market, once all the technologies are picked. This is where Quantum and WD kick Seagate's butt.
4) I never equated areal density leadership with any guaranteed level of profitability. But it is a huge advantage.
As I said before, I acknowledge that Seagate is able to compete even though they take more disks and heads to achieve a given capacity point, because of their vertical integration, but I stand by my statement that they're leaving money on the table due to incompetence.
I am perplexed why you, presumably a shareholder, would defend this company being so consistently behind the curve. There's no excuse for it. They've got the best engineering talent and the most resources. If their managers were as good as their engineers, they'd be out front. |
