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

To: Andrew Shih who wrote (48523)	2/22/1998 11:43:00 AM
From: Craig Richards	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

Earliest introduction for the HiFD is 2H, 1998. Let us assume it ships on June 1. 2H 98 starts on July 1st, not June 1st. OEM's require lots of time to evaluate and test a product before they include it in their PCs. Even if Sony is able to release HiFD by July 1st, everything would have to go right for an OEM to include it in time for the Christmas selling season. And that's even assuming that OEMs would be interested. Are there any reported sightings of the HiFD drive yet? Right now it looks a lot more like Vapor! than the Clik! does.

To: Andrew Shih who wrote (48523)	2/22/1998 12:27:00 PM
From: Rocky Reid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

>>I'm just trying to decide the worst-case influence from Sony's HiFD.<< Your assumption is by no means "worst-case." Let's examine another possible scenario. Sony HiFi ships July 1, 1998. However, the Sony marketing blitz starts 2 months prior, as well as the chance to pre-order the drive in every PC catalog, retail stores, and numerous web sites. As a result of people pre-ordering HiFi , retail Zip sales decline 20% in June. Within 2 months after HiFi's rollout, retail Zip sales have declined by 50%. Since most of Iomega's money is made by selling retail Zip drives and discs, Iomega and its delicate stock price at a PE of 20 finds itself in a world of shi...excuse me...Shinola. Just another possible scenario.

To: Andrew Shih who wrote (48523)	2/22/1998 12:47:00 PM
From: Brendan2012	Respond to of 58324

>>Let's assume the HiFD and Zip each cost $99. The fight for marketshare will begin at the high end. HiFD: Cheaper, Faster, more storage. Zip: Fairly cheap, fairly fast, 18 million other users have Zips.<< Hopefully, if Iomega sees Sony gaining on them with the HiFD, they could quickly lower the price on Zip and/or introduce a larger capacity Zip drive. It could be a tough battle, but with compatibility on Zip's side I think Iomega has the upper hand. Also, I don't think HiFD will be priced that low initially. Brendan