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

To: AJRO who wrote (57243)	7/16/1998 6:54:00 PM
From: Mel Boreham	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

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: AJRO who wrote (57243)	7/17/1998 12:40:00 AM
From: Ken Pomaranski	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 58324

Hi AJRO! In response to your comment: << IOM is accused of being a one product company....THE DISKS. I thought this was their business model in the first place? No one complained that Gillett only sells one product, razor blades. A more sound argument would be is the higher disk sales sustainable, etc. >> I would feel much better about Iomega if the disks were truly razor blades. They are not. Fact is, each user buys about 6-10 or so then stops. This is not a true razor blade model. I addressed this in a post a couple days ago. Take a look and let me know what you think! What bothers me is that ZIP is the only product that matters anymore. But what is WORSE is that they make less and less money on the drives themselves as they focus more and more on OEMs. I contend that the company cannot survive on the disks alone. (that is obvious if you look at earnings this quarter!) Sure, they sold alot of disks, but the big question is this: What do they have to show for it?? I see major problems and no sure way out. How can they increase penetration? They can't afford another AD campaign that doesn't work. The market doesn't really seem that elastic. Dropping prices won't really help anymore. My only question is this: (and no bull will answer this): How will Iomega magically start making money again? They can't create more demand, the market is saturating, and the shift is moving more toward non power users (OEMs) What fundamental shift will occur? If someone could answer this to my satisfaction, I will probably buy the stock again. Good luck! kp