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: Ken Marcus who wrote (40544)	12/18/1997 3:28:00 PM
From: Bearded One	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

Iomega will have shipped 15 to 20 million zips by the time the Sony HiFD is out. Emerald research, last I heard, does not expect the drive to be out till late 98 early 99. Much too late. I have some experience with Emerald Research, the company that recommended Iomega at 45 last year, and also pushed Zitel continuously, predicting billions in revenue to a company that wound up generating zero earnings quarter after quarter. Go to the Zitel thread and ask some of them what Emerald Research said about Zitel. Ultimately, they're just people like you or me. Don't be impressed by a name. They've been terribly wrong before, but they seem to have a large following on the internet.

To: Ken Marcus who wrote (40544)	12/18/1997 4:01:00 PM
From: Rocky Reid	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 58324

Ken "IOM Super Bull" Marcus also responded: >>Sony drive will have cost disadvantages because of their desire to have backward compatability with the 1.44 floppy in one drive.<< Perhaps. But they are a large enough corporation to be able to still sell it at a competitive price and subsidize it using Sony's vast array of other products. >>Iomega will have shipped 15 to 20 million zips by the time the Sony HiFD is out. Emerald research, last I heard, does not expect the drive to be out till late 98 early 99. Much too late.<< Emerald has been wrong in the past. Badly wrong. Sony still insists that the HiFi will be out late Spring 1998. With Zip drive sales slowing, the total will be nowhere near 20 million. >>Backwards compatability? This is meaningless in most non-laptop computers sold today since the cost of having both a floppy drive and a zip is less than the proposed Sony combo drive ($250?)<< But wait-- most computers sold now are around $1000, and these boxes only come with 2 slots-- one for CD-Rom, and one for Floppy. You can replace the Floppy slot with Sony HiFi and STILL be able to use all those 1.44 floppies. >>Larger size: We know for a fact that Iomega has a 200 meg zip working and has had it for a long time. If the Sony drive comes out, it will compete against a 200 meg zip that is backwards compatible with the rest of the power user installed base of zips (15 to 20 million).<< Capacity will be roughly the same--however, the Sony drive's performance numbers are substantially better than Zip's. I can provide them if you need them. Also, Sony HiFi will be compatible with ALL--100% of the computers out there today with its floppy-compatibility. Compare that to about 5% of Zip equipped computers. >>As the installed base of drives increases, the annuity from the zip disks will increase. This will allow Iomega to subsidize the price of the drives that it ships to OEMs. Currently large OEMs are paying approx $47. This cost is planned to decrease by 1/2 according to KE in the last conf call.<< Again, Zips are Iomega's bread and butter. Any price cuts that they employ will greatly affect Iomega's bottom line. Sony on the other hand can blow the drives out at a loss, all the while subsidizing these losses with a myriad of other succesful products. Don't forget that Japanese firms have a history of doing just this. >>The marketing team in charge of the HiFD is the same team that is/was in charge of the Sony Minidisk. The Minidisk has not been a standard setting success.<< I get tired of explaining this one. Sony Minidisk is a bad product. It's sound quality is not as good as CD. It uses a lossy compression scheme which diminishes audio dynamics. This reputation has gotten around the marketplace, and justly the product has not sold to expectations. I have personally blasted the Minidisc time and time again. Sony HiFi, however, bests Zip in performance AND compatibility. We'll just see about the kind of marketing effort Sony throws behind HiFi.