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

To: sheila rothstein who wrote (54240)	5/7/1998 9:12:00 AM
From: Dave Triplett	Respond to of 58324

I'll give it a try -the graphics. Status of the Zip Drive in Becoming the Floppy Replacement: An "Increasing Returns" Example Overview Iomega's Zip drive has become one of the most successful products in consumer electronics history. Zip drives reached three million units in sales faster than portable CD's, camcorders, cell phones and other popular electronics. Currently, there have been over 10 million Zip drives sold, with over one million drives sold per month continuously adding to that total. Zip's rapid rise in sales has driven Iomega's growth. Annual Iomega sales revenue rose from $100 million in 1993 to over $1 billion in 1996 - a jump accomplished quicker than any other high growth PC company in history including organizations such as Microsoft, Compaq or Apple. In addition to enthusiastic support from buyers, the Zip drive has garnered continuing praise from the press. PC Magazine: "Zip has the potential to be the high-capacity floppy disk drive for the next generation." MacHome Journal Editors' Picks: "I hope the Zip drive becomes the standard because it's the best way to go." Iomega has focused Zip's message on versatility with its "Three drives in one" message. Zip is highlighted for portability, hard drive expansion and fast/easy backup applications. Zip drives are the "high-performance floppy for the multimedia age" according to Iomega. This is Iomega's primary goal - and challenge: to make Zip the floppy replacement. This is also the key question. Can Iomega do it? Or ... has Iomega already done it? The answer in the analysis of the Zip as a floppy replacement is a rather obtuse, complicated theory. "New" economics suggests that Iomega's Zip drive may have already established itself as the floppy standard - even at this relatively early date in its adoption cycle. c CooperComm, Inc., 1997. 16457 Wilson Farm Chesterfield, MO 63005 (314) 537-1100 coopercomm @ aol.com December 18, 1997 CooperComm Report PART 1 OF 4

To: sheila rothstein who wrote (54240)	5/7/1998 9:15:00 AM
From: Dave Triplett	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 58324

Part 3 of 4 Zip and Increasing Returns The Zip drive appears to be well beyond the initial stages of increasing returns. It maintains a dominant position illustrated by a number of achievements: - Zip had 96 percent share of high density floppy market in 1996 (IDC) - Over 10 millions Zip drives sold to date - Over one million Zip drives shipping monthly - All top U.S. retailers carry Zip - Acceptance of Zip by major PC OEM's such as IBM, Compaq, H-P, Packard Bell/NEC, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron, Apple and others - Zip included in over 100 OEM SKU's - Zip available as a bootable A: drive in systems from OEM's such as Micron - Exclusive use of Zip in software such as the Norton Zip Rescue module in Norton Utilities for Win95 3.0 - Complete line of internal/external Zip drives, form factors, interfaces and accessories - Extensive network of Zip manufacturing and marketing partnerships These are significantly more than "small beginning events" on the way to becoming the floppy replacement standard. These indicate that a potentially insurmountable head start has been attained. After addressing the increasing returns advantages to high technology manufacturers, Waldrop comments, "Among high-tech customers, meanwhile, there is an equally large reward to flocking to a standard." The Zip drive presents just such a standard to which high-tech customers apparently have flocked. As a MacWEEK reviewer wrote in an analysis of a competitor's drive, "Unless [competitive drive] achieves success on the order of the Zip drive, it won't be a good choice for sharing data with other offices." From this reviewer's standpoint, Zip had already evidently achieved a standards position for sharing files with another location. The Problems of Playing Catch-Up to Zip Even if another technology could duplicate Zip's exponential growth rate, it would find itself falling further and further behind over time. A standards position in a rapidly growing market is very difficult to overcome. The following chart illustrates how the net difference in sales between a market leader and a following competitor always gets bigger, even when the sales growth rate is the same for both.Zip Drive the Floppy Replacement? Page 3 c CooperComm, Inc., 1997. 16457 Wilson Farm Chesterfield, MO 63005 (314) 537-1100 coopercomm @ aol.com