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

To: Sam who wrote (30857)	1/5/2006 2:07:25 PM
From: Murrey Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

In my business (advertising), ask an entry level artist if he/she knows the difference between a designer or an art director. Over a period of 35 years in the business, I've asked that question over and over. To a fault all of them replied, "There is no difference". To which I asked them to come back in a year or two with the same reply. Once again, to a fault, when asked the same question a couple of years later, the reply was unanimous -- they could write a book on the differences. The nature of fine design is a very subtile practice, to say the least. How can you expect a non practitioner of the discipline of design to do any thing other than that which the entry level wannabees would do? To Jobs credit (and sense of aesthitics) he outsourced most of his key ID projects. And, very key, is the reality, that when asked, a staff (company employee) designer would be the first to say that he/she could come up with a solution as good as, if not better, than the iPod. That, in my years of experience is the nature of the beast and the sooner Eli (or whoever is responsible for that aspect of product development) comes to that realization, the better.

To: Sam who wrote (30857)	1/5/2006 2:56:49 PM
From: inaflash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

I love AAPL and SNDK, and hold positions in both. On the MP3 front, they do compete, but on vastly different points. There's plenty of room for 3 or 4 players in the area. Right now, Apple holds a commanding 2/3 market share, so the rest will battle on for the remaining minor share. In some ways, it's Apple's share to lose. Sansa isn't positioned to battle against iPod nano. If/when the 1GB nano comes out at $99, that's going to make things tough, but Sansa still has the $20-50 market, which I doubt is going to be something Apple will try to approach. Apple's current entry in the low end is the shuffle, which isn't as commanding as the nano. At that price range and size, there are limitations on how much you can design. Also, Apple isn't all that excited about releasing the 1GB nano at such a low price as that will cannibalize their shuffle sales as well as their higher capacity units. They'll have to do their calculation on profit margins on the 1GB nano to decide if it's worth merging the two lines at that point. In some ways, a low priced 1GB nano will probably kill the shuffle. Priced too high and it will not be competitive with the higher capacity units. A just right point may not exist at this time, but let's see what they have to say at CES. More in Apple's way is to increase the capacity, so I'd be looking out for a 6GB or 8GB unit at the current 4GB price, and moving the 2GB unit down in price. I think there's still about a year or two left for the shuffle before it gets squeezed out.

To: Sam who wrote (30857)	1/5/2006 3:08:32 PM
From: inaflash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

More on Sansa. Isn't the product line just 1 year old? The old 2nd place incumbent was Creative, and I think they've got the most to lose. All the contenders have tried to compete with iPod on a variety of levels. Price is the main point, and at the under $100 level, many of the competitors add features that may sway buyers, such as adding a screen, higher capacity, FM tuner, FM transmitter, voice recorder, etc. They've also been working with the non-iTunes camps to tie into the competing music services. As far as design, Sansa was probably not designed inhouse, but rather contracted (though I don't know for sure). Cost and time to market probably had greater input than usability, but again competing with iPod isn't the first goal. It's with iPod alternative to choose, and on that level, it's competitive. The true competitive advantage of Sandisk and Samsung is their supply of flash which is reportedly the largest cost factor in MP3 players. I expect this cost advantage to put these two at number 2 and 3. Lastly Sony needs to be in this arena, so should be coming out with something soon. Aside from one of these players buying up Creative or their MP3 division, they're going to have a tough time. Good thing MP3 players is not their only line. One more note on design, Sandisk did come out with the SD plus cards (built-in usb), which is not too shabby.