Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Road Walker who wrote (17806)	12/29/2000 6:14:21 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 60323

John Fowler, thanks again for the information on retailing. I think that I posted that the Staples store near my parents home (about 1 hour from NYC) was down to a single 16MB SanDisk CompactFlash. No other cards available at all. No SmartMedia available at all. The guy mentioned that he was chronically understocked on CF during the Christmas rush. The same salesperson also said they had sold a lot of digital cameras. He asked what I was looking for specifically. I said I needed a larger capacity CF card. He then said he expected further deliveries in 4 to 6 business days. Again, only anecdotal information, but I think a lot of storage flash of all varieties was sold in the last quarter. I try not to exclude Memory Stick from this computation. I still find it hard to believe SanDisk offered much in the way of rebates and incentives. Most retail outlets (such as BestBuy) definitely were not selling flash cards at a discount. I still get a little bit of sticker shock when I look at cards above 32MB at places like BestBuy or Computer City. I hope that margins held up for us. I guess I will worry until the quarter is announced just because worrying is something I have gotten quite good at lately. I think if bulk sales of chips from Toshiba, Samsung and Hitachi are continuing to expand we should expect significant increases in licensing fees this quarter (when they reconcile the second half of the year as was done in Q2) along with whatever licenses were negotiated as a result of the successful defense of '987. Best, Aus

To: Road Walker who wrote (17806)	12/29/2000 10:50:12 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

John, more retail observations. We have a strip mall with Office Depot, CompUSA and Circuit City all in a row not far from our home. I stopped by on the way home tonite to look around. Office Depot had about 6 or 8 CF cards each in varying capacities (16 to 80MB) available. I counted the cardboard request cards in each box behind the product displays. This is supposedly an accurate reflection of stock on hand in the store. CompUSA had mostly Lexar stuff in the window. There were quite a few Lexar CompactFlash leftover, mostly 48-64MB. There was some SanDisk stuff (including MMC), but not much inventory other than one 64 and one 128MB CF card. Circuit City was very different from when I visited before Christmas. There is an extensive digital camera display in this store. They are totally sold out of SmartMedia. They had four SanDisk 16MB CF cards and three 64 MB CF cards, as well as a dozen or so 128MB CF cards. The 32MB CF cards were sold out. Incidentally, most of the Centon cards were also sold, but they occupied relatively little space a few weeks ago. The salesguy said that digital cameras were hot. Sony, Nikon and the Canon S-100 were most popular. He said they have been short on card inventory most of December and that sales were continuing after the holiday. Specifically he said there were a lot of young families who simply come in an shop (relatively impulsively) for digital cameras. He sold two Canon S-100's during his shift today alone. Again, a mixed review and purely anecdotal. Aus