Sony to roll out 200MB floppy
By Karen J. Bannan, PC Week Online
10.15.97 2:00 pm ET
Sony Corp. and Fuji Photo Film Co. announced Tuesday a new 3.5-inch, 200MB floppy disk system that analysts say could challenge Iomega Corp.'s Zip Drive.
The HiFD (High Capacity Floppy Disk) system, which is backward read/write compatible with current 3.5-inch, 1.44MB floppy disks, is being targeted at the low-end optical storage market, officials said.
The announcement of HiFD marks a new benchmark in low-end optical drive performance since it is expected to achieve read transfers of 3.6MB per second and write transfers of 1.2MB per second. Iomega's Zip Drive has a read/write transfer rate that ranges between .79MB and 1.44MB per second, while current 1.44MB floppy drives have a transfer rate of 0.06MB per second.
Currently, Iomega is the low-end optical storage market share leader, with its Zip Drive garnering approximately 87 percent of sales this year, according to Wolfgang Schlichting, senior research analyst with International Data Corp., based in Framingham, Mass.
"I think [the announcement] is rather significant," Schlichting said. "Sony is a major drive manufacturer, and it plays in most key market segments. Fuji has a reputation in media so it seems to be an excellent match for a new floppy format."
The HiFD is expected to ship to both OEMs and after-market resellers in the spring of 1998, said Dirk Peters, marketing manager, value-added products, for Sony Electronics Inc., based in San Jose, Calif. In addition, Alps Electric Co. Ltd. and TEAC Corp. have signed on to license and sell their own versions of the technology.
Although pricing has not yet been finalized, Peters expects it to be "very competitive" with other products already on the market. A low price could start a price war in the optical storage market, according to IDC's Schlichting.
"[Iomega] lowering their prices would be a strong strategy to stay competitive in the market place," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see a sub-$100 Zip Drive."
Sony Electronics is at www.storagebysony.com.
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