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: Steve Wiz who wrote (43089)	1/11/1998 12:04:00 AM
From: Gary Wisdom	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

Steve, thanks for your very thoughtful and thorough post. A few comments: 1. You note quite a few issues regarding Iomega that could be important over the months to come. However, please consider the following: A. Advertising: Demand for Iomega products exceeds supply. In this situation, there is no need for advertising to push through product. If they advertised more, the product shortages would be greater. B. Pricing of Zip drives: Again, demand exceeds supply. There is no reason to lower prices in this environment. Doing so would be stupid. C. MR technology: I am a technology idiot compared to those like yourself on this thread. That's why I read your posts. If you say they need to do what you said, I don't take issue with it. D. Syquest: The fact that TDK is taking stock for compensation means two things: 1. TDK is DESPERATE for business and 2. Syquest has no cash. Both are big negatives for both companies. E. Nomai: Not a major issue to me. By the time this case is settled, Iomega's retail prices will be far below what they are now and people will pay $1 more for the brand name. F. Iomega's R&D and manufacturing capabilities: No argument here. If anything, I think this may be the weak link in the company. Far too many manufacturing errors and underestimation of demand and far too few new products and enhancements. Hopefully, this will remedied in the not so distant future. In sum Steve, I am not sticking my head in the sand on this Company. I am keenly watching for any signs of trouble to bail out. However, a company that has demand/supply dynamics such as those Iomega possesses is in a very, very good position. They are doing exactly the right thing from a marketing point of view. From distribution to pricing to advertising, they are batting 1000. Oh, yea, my qualifications: I am a Wharton Graduate in Finance and Marketing, and have worked as a Marketing Manager at a $5B international company. Again, I very much appreciate your post. Please continue to keep sharing these thoughtful comments with us. It is sure refreshing to hear negative arguments with some basis of fact behind them. BTW, are you long Iomega currently?

To: Steve Wiz who wrote (43089)	1/11/1998 5:05:00 AM
From: Lurker	Respond to of 58324

Greetings All: A couple of notes from the Fool Message Boards: (1) Apparently First Call and Zacks list the earnings announcement as 1/28. However, Iomega Investor Relations says that this date is incorrect. Earnings will be announced after the market closes on 1/22. (2) A poster said that Iomega haven't been granted their patents in Europe yet. They are still pending. In addition, in Europe, you cannot sue for patent infringement until the patents are actually issued (unlike USA). This is why Iomega didn't (couldn't) sue for patent infringements. This makes the Noumai issue even less dangerous. It would be very difficult for Noumai to hurt Iomega. 1. Iomega can and will sue Noumai in the USA. This is what is inhibiting the big players from jumping in. 2. Noumai can make, at most, 10 million disks. Iomega Disk sales are expected to increase from 100 to 200 million this year. Worse case scenario means an increase of 100 to 190 million Iomega zip disks and 10 million Noumai zip disks. This is still very, very profitable. 3. Only Iomega and Noumai own machines that can make zip disks. Iomega has a judgement agreement with the manufacturer of these machines (which are also patented) not to sell to anyone besides Iomega w/o Iomega's permission. 4. As a last line of defense Iomega's retroreflector is superior to Noumai's concave mirror. Iomega can move the heads around in various zip drives to make Noumai disks worthless. Is ANYONE out there still worried about Noumai disks? Hmmm, maybe I should start selling "Noumai disks hurting Iomega" insurance policies (since I would never have to pay off <g>.

To: Steve Wiz who wrote (43089)	1/13/1998 7:40:00 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

>>Syquest must be using Magneto Resistive recording heads in SparQ. The SparQ drive possesses an unbelievable combination of storage size and price.<< Steve - With all the "boinking" over the weekend, I never got a chance to respond to this. SparQ does not use MR heads. The upcoming Quest drive from SyQuest does. Quest has been in development for nearly a year now, so MR technology in the hands of SyQuest is not a new development. The Orb drive which has been demonstrated by Castlerock does use MR heads to achieve its 2.1GB capacity in a small form-factor cartridge. I don't believe that Iomega is "falling behind the curve" with respect to MR. The main benefit of magneto-resistive data recording is that it allows greater data density within a given area. Iomega has managed to deliver products with the capacities people want, at the prices people were willing to pay. They are also maintaining compatibility within the Jaz product line by not using MR in JazII. I think their strategy makes perfect sense. Certainly we will see MR products from Iomega in the future, but the fact that they don't exist yet doesn't mean the company is doomed. - Allen