"But most interesting for you Trakker, and others was the comment by
Jerry Meerkatz, vice president of Compaq's PC Options. Mr. Meerkatz
said his focus group went out and discoverd among consumers that "our
customers tend not to be as concerned with backward-compatibility;
therefore the Zip solution is doing quite well in that area." (DID YOU
READ THAT? FROM THE COMPAQ VP!!) "But on the commercial
side of the business, backward-compatibility is the major discriminating
factor. That's why we're committed to the idea the LS-120 has all
the potential to become the next standard."
There you have it. They're looking to be the standard, and hope
that the consumer will sing to the tune of whatever big business determines
is best. What do you think? I personally don't think so. And if that's
Compaq's ACE, I think the OEMs Iomega already has make a grand
royal flush and would do just fine for me in a game of poker."
Archie, Glad to see you back posting. This summer has been awful. So
far I survived 2 direct hurricane hits (Bertha and Fran) and several near
misses, the first major market correction in 6 years, the worst Nasdag crash
in a decade, etc. Had I bought an oceanfront house, chances are that
it would have been demolished, too.
Well, back to your post above. I too, have great concerns about Compag
sneaking the LS120 in the back door when no one is watching (see my
previous posts # 6849 and 6860). But Philip (#6856) and J. Esguerra (#6868)
did a lot to improve my confidence on IOMG marketing. I think the small
and medium-sized businesses will go with Zip, but big corporations have
many technology-challenged folks in the decision-making positions, who
always like to play it safe and keep a lifeline to the past (i.e. backward
compatibility) no matter if it makes sense or not -- especially the folks
who set corporate guidelines and standards and purchasing.
Compag does a lot of business with big corporations, so they must know
the general mindset of these folks. IOMG should really makes sure that
Compag 's effort to sell LS120 to big corporations does not go unchallenged.
Big corporations will use many many more Zip disks vs. home PC users,
and once Zip and the Iomega name get in the door of big corporations -
becoming a standard is almost sure thing. Plus Jaz will likely follow in.
There's also the public ignorance and psychological factor which can not
be underestimated - as displayed by the writer of the article you posted
above. Apparently he/she has never actually used the LS120 nor the Zip
in real work environment to give real life comparisons. The recommendation
to "check out the Ls120" instead of the Zip apparently was based solely
on "backward compatibitly", a psychological and "confort" factor - as it
appears at first.
In real life work environement, having both an internal Zip and a 3.5FD
($100 + 20 = 120, still only 55% the cost the internal LS120 drive (220)),
is far more convenience and conforting than having to swap 3.5" floppies
and the LS120 disks in and out of the same drive. Even an external Zip
and a 3.5FD together only costs about 77% of the internal LS120 drive
(170 vs. 220). If the LS120 drive happens to go bad, one is out of luck.
(I think Iomega should hammer this message home to consumers and
corporations on commercial - it's like putting all your eggs in one basket.)
Young |
