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

To: Win-Lose-Draw who wrote (17098)	12/11/2000 2:32:34 PM
From: Tumbleweed	Respond to of 60323

Nobody cares what brand of memory is in their PC, and nobody cares what brand of Flash is in their MP3 player. I'm not so sure about that, at least not for several years to come. Its not uncommon to see questions on rec.photo.digital asking if one brand of flash is better than another, and I also have reason to believe that many people just buy more of the exact same brand that comes with their camera.* You might assume that those on R.P.D are a bit more computer/PC savvy than the average digicam user but they still have to ask, so it seems. At the moment its all a bit new and strange, and people will tend to stick with what they know works. Tw *Why else would anyone buy Koday CF at twice the price :-)

To: Win-Lose-Draw who wrote (17098)	12/11/2000 2:33:14 PM
From: Jason W	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

W-L-D, but you can bet your bottom dollar capacity won't stay constrained if there is any margin in this business. If CF becomes the "de facto" medium for removable storage, AND SNDK owns the IP to CF, they will collect royalties from ALL the players in the arena. SNDK would also be able to control the amount of companies licensed to sell CF, there by controlling supply and price, while collecting a royalty along the way. What is your position on SNDK, and how do you see them performing in the future? Jason

To: Win-Lose-Draw who wrote (17098)	12/11/2000 9:19:54 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

"Every memory product has become a commodity item, and certainly one aimed squarely at consumers will become a commodity, if it hasn't already. Nobody cares what brand of memory is in their PC, and nobody cares what brand of Flash is in their MP3 player. As long as capacity is constrained pricing pressures may be mitigated...but you can bet your bottom dollar capacity won't stay constrained if there is any margin in this business." I agree and disagree, W-L-D. Once price becomes the only differentiating factor at the consumer level we have indeed become a commodity item. As you have stated pricing and not branding appear to be more important. The difference for SanDisk is that it does profit on both ends of the flash market. First, the big players (and partners) like Toshiba, Samsung, Sharp and Hitachi are all licensing core patents for flash manufacture. These patents are used to create the building blocks of flash cards. [Other interests may include licensing of SanDisk's MLC technology and perhaps controllers (needed for SDMC/MMC, for example) used in MLC-based products. I don't know this for a fact, but it would follow that '987 must extend to include MMC and SDMC given both are flash cards that use an integrated controller like the CompactFlash paradigm.] The other area where SanDisk stands to profit is from the licensing of '987 to other card assemblers. Lexar's admission of infringement is key in this instance. The only potential pothole is that the Lexar redesign, if successful and viable, could attract licensees away from SanDisk, although I have some doubts this will be the case. They way I have interpreted the situation is that SanDisk will profit both from the raw materials and from the finished product because the patent portfolio covers both facets of the flash market. Thus, commoditization of flash cards will not be all bad for SNDK. In fact, it may just be exactly what we need. Ausdauer@commoditization_is_a_double-edged_sword.com