Lawrence,
Your information is incorrect here.
First of all, the Medalist Pro 9.1GB is a four platter drive. 2.3GB/platter. SEG's recent announcments are for 2.1GB/platter drives. The 1.6GB/platter are all in production, but not getting much notice since the 2.1GB/platter drives are on the horizon (sold about 500,000 1.6's).
About the RDRT thing, SEG is not 100% internally sourced so there is always some outsourcing going on.
Also, about the QNTM 50% share thing, it's absolutely not true. QNTM has about 26% market share in 4GB drives (especially if you include captive markets). SEG also has about 26~27% market share in 4GB. The other big share goes to IBM (25~30% including captive usage). Other small shares go to WDC, MAX, and Fujitsu.
Also, on the technology density issue, it's fairly common to do some leapfrogging. If SEG comes out with a 1.4GB/platter drive then QNTM will come out a few months later with a 1.6GB/platter or 2.1 then SEG will come out with a 2.1 or 2.3GB/platter design. Each company will have market leadership for a short time and continue to leapfrog the other. The technology is sufficiently complicated that no one company has been able to get AND maintain market leadership in density. This is part of what makes stock trading hard work. If we could count on any one company to get ahead and stay ahead then, we wouldn't need anybody with college degrees.
Regards, |
