Well, I'm back -- straight from the PC Expo here in NYC. (LONG POST!)
Let me just say right off the bat to Iomaniacs betting the farm on Vapor!, that after seeing Vapor! first-hand, don't get your hopes up for much.
First of all, a release date is still completely up in the air. I asked repeatedly when to expect it, and every Iomega employee gave the same response- a shrug of the shoulders, a hem-haw, and "Second half of this year." A guy next to me pressed the question further, and the Iomega guy admitted that he sincerely "hopes" it can be delivered before the year is out.
Second, is the fact that Iomega is going to have a tough time selling it at any kind of profit priced at $199. From info gathered there, the Vapor! package includes the external drive, a base unit w/built in battery charger, a Flash Card reader that fits into the end of the drive, a rechargable battery (the kind that cell phones use), a parallel port cable, and a Vapor! disc. The base unit is the only way to charge the battery. So, if you're out in the field for long, you need to tote along more batteries.
The external Vapor unit itself is not exactly as tiny as the likes of Michael Coley would have you believe. It is the same size as your average digital camera. They had about 10 or so Vapor! drives, each on its own display with a different purpose for each display.
A couple of internal versions were also displayed. You could see the read/write head swing back and forth. Based on this, believe me, the access times will suck. Don't really expect to be running any audio or video off of a Vapor! disc. People seemed disappointed when they asked how many MB each Vapor! disc would hold. When told "40 MB," there were no "WoWs!", mainly just a shrug and a polite, "OK."
The digital camera Vapor! example consisted of a new Kodak digital camera sitting next to an external Vapor! drive. The only way to use it with existing digital cameras, is to use the camera's Flash Card. You take the Flash Card out from the camera, attach a PC Card reader adaptor to the Vapor! unit, put the Flash Card into the Vapor! unit, and press buttons to tell the Vapor! unit to read the Flash Card. No working model of this was on display, however. No digital camera system was working with Vapor!
A Windows CE device was hooked up to an external Vapor!, and it operates the same way, except through a PC Card adaptor. Again, no "WoWs!". You cannot run applications off of a Vapor! drive. You can only copy files back and forth between the Flash card port and Vapor! There was a genuine lack of gotta-have-it around the Vapor! end of the Iomega area.
The real interest was for a Vacation giveaway complete with yellow-clad stewardesses on the other side of the Iomega site. Also of some interest to some was a cheesy-as-hell song and dance production circa 1987 rock/fusion sideshow.
Compaq's site was massive. And if Compaq has embraced Iomega, someone had better inform Compaq of this. I saw NO computers with a Zip built-in. I didn't get to see all of the Compaq site, but I did see about 75% of it, and NO Zips in any desktops that I saw.
The Castlewood booth was tiny, but close to Iomega. They had an external drive (gotta change that packaging, man. Looks blahhh), and 2 internals. All were working flawlessly running applications. The internal Orb looks smart residing in a tower computer, with its white hinged door proclaiming "2.16 Gig ORB!" The 2 Gig discs are amazingly slim compared to a Jaz disc. A Lotus rep was standing there next to me asking questions about a release date, and the Castlewood guy said that beta testing was still going on, and there were issues involving the software that needed fixing. But they were determined to get all the bugs out before releasing it, unlike some other companies that ship Zip Plus's and SparQ's full of bugs. Castlewood said to me that they expect to be shipping IDE and Parallel in August. The Castlewood guy offered that Sy Ifikar (the owner) was thinking way, way far ahead, and that there were "non-discussable" deals going on with other computer products (Orb-based VCR's, etc). Also, I noticed that the Castlewood logo itself may be under evolution. The booth's Castlewood logo appeared more streamlined, and with a Nike-type of swoosh under it.
The rather tastefully-styled Syquest booth was way off in the other corner, but suprisingly well attended when I was there. They were pressing the Syjet and SparQ by running movie clips from Starship Troopers and Nutty Professor (Eddie Murphy) off external Syjets and an internal SparQ. No Quest drive was on display. I asked when they would ship, and they said they were still talking with OEM's before releasing it. Next to Syquest, was Teac.
Teac had A fully functioning internal HiFi drive on display. I immediately went to go see Sony.
The Sony site was huge, and featured their amazingly new thin laptops. I mean, we're talking THIN! The Sony HiFi display featured 2 HiFi externals and an internal model installed in a VAIO tower. All were fully functional and running multimedia clips. The 200MB discs are the same size as regular floppies, but differently styled. The packaging and appearance of internal HiFi's and discs posted in my SI profile are accurate.
The external HiFi drives look pretty cool, and feature a drop-down access door to keep dust out. It's not a flap door, like Syjet or SparQ. I asked about availability, and the response was August/September.
BTW, the Sony site had the best-looking girls working at PC Expo by far, hands down. That was enough to induce the WOW! factor from me. |
