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.

Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearded One who wrote (39618)	12/12/1997 4:11:00 PM
From: KM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

B.O. Did you get any illumination on this issue from the places I suggested? I guess not.

To: Bearded One who wrote (39618)	12/12/1997 4:21:00 PM
From: Tom Gebing	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

B.O. - Just like your initials, your assumptions and statements STINK........ Why don't you go back to Rogers Short Picks where You might be appreciated, or did they tell you to leave also ? I bet you haven't even personally done a channel check on Iomega or even Syjunk.

To: Bearded One who wrote (39618)	12/12/1997 4:35:00 PM
From: Josh Chong	Respond to of 58324

BO, I thought KE said in one of his conference call that with the Zip being ship to OEM the tie ratio is lower.

To: Bearded One who wrote (39618)	12/12/1997 4:50:00 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

>>Could they have possibly had a lower tie ratio this last quarter? This bear thinks so.<< Bearded One - There are three possibilities. Ratios were higher, they were lower, or they stayed the same. Note that the discussion of the reasons for higher margins for Q3 says they were driven "primarily by 'catch-up' shipments of Jaz disks". This doesn't say they were driven exclusively by this. But for the sake of argument, let's assume you were correct, and Zip tie ratios were lower in the third quarter. Then they only rose in the first and second quarters. Can we reasonably assume that they are plummeting? That people have stopped buying Zip disks? Must growth always be constant? As to your reports of Zip sales slowing in New York, I haven't seen any evidence of it in my own sojourns through the computer stores. Zip drives and disks are still occupying prime floor and shelf space, and just this morning I saw two women buying an external parallel Zip drive at J&R, ignoring the 8 SparQ drives which have finally made it onto the sales floor. But I was only there for a couple of minutes, so it's not a statistically meaningful sample. - Allen

To: Bearded One who wrote (39618)	12/12/1997 5:16:00 PM
From: Frank Drumond	Respond to of 58324

>Could they have possibly had a lower tie ratio this last quarter? This bear thinks so.< Best estimates I've heard (from very reliable sources) for Zip disks is better than 7 to 1. Given that 1000000 Zip drives a month are now selling that is a bearal full of disks.

To: Bearded One who wrote (39618)	12/12/1997 6:28:00 PM
From: Ken Pomaranski	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 58324

Bearded one: Valid concerns you raise! Let me give my view on each of them (and thanks.. You are the only bear here who posts 'real' stuff anymore.): (1) TIE RATIOS: I agree. Tie ratios will decrease as the market shifts towards more OEM drives and the market matures. I have always said this, and this has always concerned me. AND YES, this will result in lower overall gross margins over time. BUT, you cannot ignore the fact that the number of drives sold is still accelerating, and that for the first time in history Iomega has no capacity constraints. I think that this will be enough to compensate for the lower gross margins, which are natural as a product matures... (2) SYQUEST: Their product is good... But the company won't be around long enough to bring it to fruition. If this product came from some other vendor.. Also, Syquest sales and Iomega sales are not even close to the same league. We are talking a couple thousand syjunk products per month to a million ZIPS per month. Who cares.. When I see a product that matters AND THEY HAVE THE RESOURCES to pull it off, then I'll worry. For now, Iomega has a 2 1/2 year lead on everybody. FLOPPY REPLACEMENT: The floppy has already been replaced. no one cares about backwards compatibility. If they did, the LS-120 would have unseated Iomega. Floppies have been replaced by a combination of about ten things. ahh.. I have to go... I'll post some more later.. Good luck! kp