<<I did not discuss the transition from 5.25 to 3.5 because the point of my post was
that the transition from 3.5 would not be to Zip, but to CD/Internet/Zip.>>
This is an important point that so many people seem to miss.
At one point everything was done on 5.25 and then 3.5 disks - storage, new products, file transfer, etc. Since then the "market" has fragmented in many markets, each with its own players. The competition is between player in a specific market.
The market first broke up with hard drives. No longer did we have to run our programs from floppies. Then came modems and bulletin boards. This facilitated small file transfer. Now we CD's, the Internet, Zips, Jaz's, etc.
When everthing was done soley by cassette tape or 5.25" or 3.5" we had a situation like Ma Bell - total monopoly by one medium. Now we have a situation like the baby bells. What happens to the bell company that services New york doesn't effect what happens to the bell company that services California.
The same is true for us. We have many markets, each with its own players.
1. Disks to boot from and run programs from - This market is dominated by the hard drive manufacturers. The floppy has lost this market and won't get it back.
2. File storage. backup, and transfer - The floppy is still king in this area. Millions of people use floppies every day. Storing, backing up, and carrying around text file data is easily done on 3.5" floppies.
3. Large storage (many text files, some graphics, and programs) - Here is where the zip comes in. As more and more programs become available because of the internet, it is nice to keep some for later use. Hard drives get full. So, many programs get deleted. But, some may be usefull later so they are saved on zip drives.
4. Very large file manipulation - Jaz, Sparq, etc.
5. Product delivery - CD's.
6. Very small devices (Cameras, PDA's) - Flash memory
7. Large back up - Tapes and very large Disks
Iomega currently is competing in 3 markets (4 if you count whatever market Buzz is in)
(A) Ditto - I don't use tapes. But, ditto is a player in the large back up market.
(B) Zip - Zip DOMINATES its market. It has REPLACED the floppy in this market. Its competitor is the Super Disk. Future competitors MAY include Orb and HiFD. No other product can threaten Zip at the present time. Zip dominates here in Lincoln, NE. The local Best Buy had a pallet of Zip drives and 1 (one, uno) Superdisk available. The zips were cheaper and in the aisle. Syjet is also a competitor. I didn't see any at Best Buy and there were no empty spaces. Are they still being made?
(C) Jaz - Jaz is successfully fighting for market share in the very large storage market. Its competitors are Sparq, etc.
(D) Clik! - Not yet available commercially - Iomega is now getting ready to fight in another market, the small device market is currently dominated by flash cards.
So, as you can see, there are at least 7 "baby bells" in the storage area, each with its own players. |
