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Non-Tech : Iomega Thread without Iomega -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jock Hutchinson who wrote (583)	7/16/1998 6:17:00 PM
From: yourthebum	Respond to of 10072

Iomega beats the whisper number of -0.21 whispernumber.com

To: Jock Hutchinson who wrote (583)	7/16/1998 6:24:00 PM
From: Rocky Reid	Respond to of 10072

>> Apparently it requires reconfiguring the BIOS, which means that HiFUD will probably encounter similar problems. So it won't be as simple as HiFUD coming in and just setting up shop. << But you fail to understand. You see, Sony HiFi has 2 interfaces on the internal model- one for the floppy, and one for the HiFi. This gets around the BIOS issue by fooling the board into thinking it has a regular old floppy in there. Only now, you also have 200MB of Zip-crushing power in there two. Only the drivers for the 200MB facilities of the drive need to be installed or set up in the BIOS. So, it is pretty much as simple as swapping out drives. You would just have to install HiFi drivers to get 200MB going. But you have had to do that with Zip anyway.

To: Jock Hutchinson who wrote (583)	7/16/1998 7:09:00 PM
From: Mel Boreham	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10072

Jock, here is a repost from the other IOM thead... Mel repost> To: AJRO (57244 ) (Trial Member) From: Mel Boreham Thursday, Jul 16 1998 6:53PM ET Reply # of 57245 AJRO. Conference Call has many good points about what has gone on with their attempts to bring Iomega back into profitability before year's end. Zip disk sales are going great and the OEM market is becoming mature now, but this required rethinking of the initial business model developed by Kim Edwards. Glad to hear that they will be working on saving 100 million in expenses this year and that they are cutting back on media exposure (TV ads in US) and are putting more into marketing in Asia and the Americas and Europe. Below is a repost to what I just put up on the Motley Fool IOM board: Repost> Zandiman and all... VCall worked great to listen in on the CC. Best thing I heard in the Call was that all top Iomega execs have agreed to be paid in IOM stock! Now if that isn't enough incentive to increase shareholder value I don't know what is... Even the CEO will be paid in Stock. Mixed good and bad news balances out to be what seems to be a "Turnaround Earnings Report". I sure hope so. Another interesting note that may not have been noticed in the recaps, what that Iomgea will have a bundling of the Clik! Drive and a Digital Camera set up along with a PDA computer (?) bundled system ready for the Christmas season. Was I dreaming this? I'm pretty sure that's what I heard. This will be good news if this happens... The Clik! release will not be "naked" it will already have sponsorship by at least two other companies (digital camera) and (PDA computer). R & D spending doubled on the Clik! system and 1,000 units are already out there being beta tested and according to J.S. (CEO) the preliminary comments from potential Clik! buyers has been good. So Vapor is Condensing a bit. I wonder who will be selling their camera in the bundle and whose PDA or palm computer will be sold this way? Any speculation? Probably Hitachi and maybe the new Casio PDA... My humble guess. Well folks, this is the low water mark on this company and feel good about the turnaround over the next few quarters. Look for 8.5 to 9 by October 15th. After release of Clik! bundles for Xmas holiday shoppers and a big release party at Comdex in Las Vegas this fall, who knows what stock price we will see by Jan. 15th! (Anyone for 13.5 to 14 by then???) If the execs want to see that Xmas Bonus this year they had better start (or continue) to burn the midnight oil at Roy and at all the other IOMEGA facilities. Lookin' Good! Mel > End repost. Hangin In There! Mel

To: Jock Hutchinson who wrote (583)	7/17/1998 3:57:00 AM
From: Rocky Reid	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10072

OK, here is my synopsis of this little Earnings report: Sierk is very good at puttng the ol' spin on things. Everything is peachy, right? Hmmm... I guess the big news is that Zip disc unit sales are up 44% over 2nd Q '97. But hold on- Zip drives shipped have increased from 7 million to 15 million since then. This is a Zip drive unit increase of 114%. Installed Base of Zip drive units increased by 114% since 7/97 but Zip discs units only by 44% since 7/97 Zip discs are not keeping up with the installed base of Zip Drives. Ken has been right all along about average Zip owners typically buying 5 or 6 discs then stopping. Clearly the tie ratio is dropping drastically. And remember, during this time, Zip discs have been selling at numerous discount outlets, bulk buys, and rebates. Pricing has been important to try and get them off the shelves. But one thing- they can't seem to make a profit off of this business. Zip discs are still expensive, but evidently they need to be in order for Iomega to try and make a profit. Lowering prices for more unit sales clearly does not make up for the loss in margins. Speaking of margins, Gross Margin fell to 24%, down from 29% the year before. Iomega arranged for $150 Million more credit from the usual suspects- Dunn, Idanta, and...JP Morgan! Suprise! Is it any wonder if this Street stalwart knows how the game is played? JP covers the stock then scores the loan.. very slick, Mr, Morgan. They've always been very kind in regards to IOM earnings forecasts and stock price projections...but badly wrong in both. The Nomai charge will be taken in the 3rd Quarter. This is where it gets a little hairy. If the entire amount is applied, then $40 Million will have to be accounted for, and this will represent a charge of ($0.15). This is on top of an earnings loss that could be as big as what was reported today. Folks, there is a very good chance that IOM will not have a PE ratio for all of next year, even assuming they return to profitability in the 4th Q (which is in serious doubt). Jaz rev fell 21%, (big suprise) because of SparQ and CD-RW drives. Zip drive unit sales rose 35% over a year ago, but Zip $$$ sales were up only 10%. Again, margins are getting crushed. The amount of $$$ Iomega realizes from Zip drives is not keeping up with unit sales. Not by a long shot. Europe down 13% Asia down 4% R&D 8% of sales. Ho-Hum. Overall revenue was $394 Mill. If you add Zip, Jaz, and Ditto rev, you get about $392 Mill. What's missing? BUZZZZZ. This means, with all of the R&D and marketing thrown at this thing, Buz has only brought in about $2 Million. You know what? Vapor will do about the same.