Jonathan, I am not sure I understand your rationale, namely that an acquisition of WDC by IBM would be the death blow to APM. If I was a Compaq, or a Dell, or any one of IBM's competitors, I would make damn sure that I have other sources for my heads and DD than my arch competitors. I would even go to other DD assemblers and insists that they qualify APM AND RDRT heads to make sure that I am not squeezed by IBM. Whatever DD I am getting from WDC, I would try and reduce. The question is if APM has any other customers for their heads, but WDC, in recent quarters they depended to heavily just on WDC, but I would, timidly, presume that APM's management has and is taking the necessary steps to qualify its "wares" with few other DD. If they do not, then whether IBM acquires WDC or not, they are cooked geese.
Zeev |
