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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Greif who wrote (8339)	12/8/1999 4:36:00 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

This just in, after the close: Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Hitachi Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co. and Siemens AG agreed to work together to develop a memory card that would be used to record music and video clips, Nikkei English News reported. The companies are planning to develop a card that would incorporate flash memory and an integrated circuit to guard copyrights. Other companies already working on the development of advanced memory cards include Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., NEN said. In October, SanDisk Corp., the No. 1 maker of flash-data storage products, said it's forming a new company with Toshiba Corp. that will develop devices that can store as much as two hours of video on a single chip. Is this competition, or is it competition combined with royalty payments? Anyone have any ideas?

To: Jim Greif who wrote (8339)	12/11/1999 3:38:00 PM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

Jim and Thread, Bad news to report. I went into BestBuy today to check out the HP C1000 printer that Limtex was talking about here. I stopped by to see the digital camera section and met, of all people, a Lexar salesman. One of these guys that just bolts his feet into the linoleum in front of the display window and gets you to buy Lexar USB enabled CF or Lexar SM. He was about 50 years old, not really hip at all, and wasn't wearing any identifying clothing. I noticed he didn't have a pocket protector or a calculator on his belt, but he otherwise looked like a fairly straight laced, conservative, traditionalist who didn't try pot in the sixties. Maybe he was fired by IBM during as a result of corporate downsizing in the early 90's. You get the picture. Lexar probably picked him up because RadioShack wasn't hiring. There were some very hip, colorful leaflets in a display box that he planted right on top of the camera display case. You simply could not miss them. He greeted me as I walked by and this is how the discussion went... HIM: "Are you interested in some media? Do you already have a digital camera?" ME: "Yes, I do actually and I was just looking around a bit." HIM (with a 48MB Lexar CF card in hand): "We have a USB enabled CompactFlash card with the card reader. Actually, it is not just a reader, it is a controller, so the download is faster than a plain card reader." ME: "My PC doesn't support USB right now, but I am thinking about upgrading when I buy a new PC." HIM: "Well, you don't have to buy a new PC to upgrade, or don't you have a USB port on the PC." ME: "I do have one USB port, but the PC is getting kind of old and I am thinking about replacing it. Right now I have an ImageMate card reader like this one (I picked one off the shelf) and I am not running Windows 98, so I really have no need for the cable." HIM: "Oh, a parallel port reader. But you can always upgrade to Windows 98, it is much cheaper than buying a whole new PC." ME: "I think I'll stay with my ImageMate for now. I am interested in the SanDisk products." HIM: no response. ME: "I have a bunch of SanDisk cards and the card reader and I am happy with it. Also, I am an investor in SanDisk." HIM: no response. ME: "But I think it is great that you get the USB cable free with the purchase." HIM: "Well, o.k. (Turns to great the next customer with a Lexar brochure in hand.) Can I give you some help in purchasing a digital camera today???" IT REMINDED ME OF THE DAY I BOUGHT MY HANDHELD VIDEOCAMERA ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO. THERE WERE DUELING SALESPEOPLE IN THE STORE TRYING TO CONVINCE ME WHY I SHOULD BUY A HI-8mm CAMERA OVER ONE THAT USED MINIATURE VHS TAPES AND VICE-VERSA. FORTUNATELY I CAME INTO THE STORE KNOWING I WANTED HI-8mm, OTHERWISE I COULD HAVE BEEN EASILY INFLUENCED EITHER WAY. If SanDisk would send me a nice white Oxford shirt with a brilliant red SanDisk emblem on the pocket and a freshly ironed pair of khakis I could easily sell the whole rack of SanDisk CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards in an afternoon (and I wouldn't even ask for a sales commission). That reminds me... When is Lexar going to start sending us royalty checks? That would be the nicest Christmas present of all. Ausdauer SanDisk...Get Passionate About CompactFlash!