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Technology Stocks : Disk Drive Sector Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Douglas who wrote (6736)	6/29/1999 10:01:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 9256

<As accurately as this describes the industry, present and past, I can't help but think that this won't be the case forever. It is just becoming too much of an anomaly for an industry to treat its suppliers this way. This is especially so if you believe that the industry supplies valuable technology and innovation. More and more you are seeing agreements between manufacturers that allow for a reasonable profit in exchange for a steady supply of product. IBM has been quite visible in breaking the trail in this regard.> Are we really seeing agreements between manufacturers? I'm still a little skeptical. Does Dell buy a more expensive drive from IBM because they have a new found respect? What is Dell extracting from this deal? It doesn't really make sense that Dell will not take cheaper product from the market. Does IBM have some sort of promise that as they exit the PC business, Dell gets some advantage with their customers? SEG is getting a slight pounding. Seems to have taken the initial brunt of selling and stabalized at $27. Wonder if it's a good day trade on a bounce play. I would have jumped if it had hit $25. Regards, Mark

To: Robert Douglas who wrote (6736)	6/29/1999 12:13:00 PM
From: Z Analyzer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9256

<< More and more you are seeing agreements between manufacturers that allow for a reasonable profit in exchange for a steady supply of product. IBM has been quite visible in breaking the trail in this regard.>> I would be shocked if IBM's deals provided for a reasonable profit instead of preferential supply at world prices which provides no guarantee of profit. Only an die hard optimist could like the DD assembly business. In this business, the more things stay the same the more they stay the same. If it ain't proprieary or better than everyone else's, its a commodity and you get a world commodity price. RAM isn't low tech either, but its a terrible business. HTCH is the only company I know of in this entire industry with market share dominance, superior manufacturing skills and proprietary technology. QNTM has attraction as an asset play. -Z