Follow up to previous post...from Smart Money
And when it comes to technological advances, Seagate is considered tops. On Monday, the company started shipping its first 2.5-inch notebook PC disk drive to use perpendicular recording technology. Basically, it's a new technology that stacks up bits of data on their end, rather than flat, allowing for greater storage density and capacity. It might not sound like much, but in the world of storage, it's huge. "It's the biggest and the best in terms of technology," says Kaushik Roy, analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based research firm, of Seagate. "They are technology leaders."
Of course, the frenzy over flash memory spooked Seagate investors last year. While flash is more expensive, it's smaller, retains data after power is turned off and has no moving parts, unlike hard disk drives. Flash is also increasingly being packed into the coolest cellphones and consumer electronics devices. So in September, when Apple Computer (AAPL: 63.34, +0.19, +0.3%) opted to use flash in its iPod Nano, replacing its iPod Mini, which used Seagate's one-inch hard disk drive, it sent tremors through the hard-disk-drive industry. Shares of Seagate dropped nearly 12% in two week's time. They've since recovered, as investors have moved past that psychological phase, says Kaufman's Seyrafi.
Indeed, many analysts say the whole flash fracas was overdone, emphatically noting that the need for hard disk drives isn't about to go the way of the dodo. "Will there be flash memory? Absolutely," says Susquehanna's Roy. "Is flash memory going to grow? Absolutely. But we think they'll coexist."
Agreed. Flash memory is ideally suited for digital cameras, cellphones and some flavors of MP3 players. But at the end of the day, everything has to be backed up. The more digital entertainment and media that's consumed, the greater that need grows. |
