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

To: Gary Wisdom who wrote (44681)	1/22/1998 11:00:00 PM
From: Doug Fowler	Respond to of 58324

>>(as you know, advertising must be scheduled far in advance and paid for at the time of ordering).<< No, as a matter of fact, I did not know that. As one who has ordered many ads from PC Magazine, Byte, Windows Magazine, etc., you pay for advertising AFTER the ad has run, and usually have 30 days to pay for it. If I order up a year of advertising in advance, I only pay once a month for the last month's ad. I will concede that it is possible to get a price break by paying up in advance, but it is certainly not required to do so.

To: Gary Wisdom who wrote (44681)	1/22/1998 11:01:00 PM
From: jwk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

>> KE avoided every question from the analysts as to why he would not lower the price of the drives. He stated that creating demand was the key; not lowering prices to meet competition. In fact, he doesn't seem to think there's any competition. << GW -- This is not consistent with the call I just finised listening to. I heard him go to great length in explaining several times why they needed first to educate with advertising and then follow-up with price reductions. To lead with price reductions without the information piece would be less effective. Overall all, it sems that IOM became a victim of their own success to a degree. The goal has been to get in the boxes. And, by significantly increasing their OEM rate, they took a cut in revenues. At this point, a great deal is riding on the effectiveness of the ad campaign. If you believe that this company can use mass marketing to sell a consumer product to the masses, you can let today's activity run its course. If you feel otherwise, sell and move on. Rough day, though however you slice it.

To: Gary Wisdom who wrote (44681)	1/22/1998 11:08:00 PM
From: Cogito	Respond to of 58324

>>KE avoided every question from the analysts as to why he would not lower the price of the drives. He stated that creating demand was the key; not lowering prices to meet competition. In fact, he doesn't seem to think there's any competition.<< Gary - He didn't avoid the question. He gave it the answer you yourself paraphrased. And he elaborated on the reasons that they were taking this approach. Their market research tells them that there are just too many people out there who don't know why they should buy removable storage, so they need to be educated before prices are dropped. Otherwise, you take the hit with the pricing but don't get the sales anyway. He answered the question forthrightly, in my opinion. Welcome to the ranks of the long-term investors. (A lot of very rich people in that group.) I can tell you this, having held IOM for nearly two years now. It's not always fun owning it. (Alert: Huge understatement for comic effect in previous sentence.) If the advertising fails to pay off, then you may be correct that the company will be bought. I'm planning to wait and see, myself. - Allen

To: Gary Wisdom who wrote (44681)	1/22/1998 11:27:00 PM
From: Naggrachi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

Re:Conference call: some non-financial thoughts I have to agree with Gary, the CC was negative, very negative. Analyists seemed rather concerned about the overall business model and where things are headed. As to the downgrades, I agree with you on this point 100%. The most damaging would come from soundview. If that does take place, IOM at $6 is very likely. I liked the coverage of soundview as much as the stock split. What was the reason behined the split? talking about granting employee options and during the call there's talk about reducing employees? Did I miss anything? Zead

To: Gary Wisdom who wrote (44681)	1/22/1998 11:57:00 PM
From: Wayne Lian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

<<IMO, KE is going to gamble the future fortunes of the company this year. Incremental advertising expenses to be $100MM in order to create demand for Zips.>> Agreed. He wanted to "educate" the mass about the use of removable storage to create demand. I have serious doubt about spending 100M to convince consumer what they need. One analyst has suggested why not use the money to reduce zip pricing instead. And I can add to why not use the money to provide free technical support? Mouth to mouth is the most effective marketing. One dissatisfied customer can lead to several lost sales.