"Iomega's Weekend Update" (by "Iss" from Motley Fool Board)
source: boards.fool.com
For those of you who are new to the board, haven't waded through all the posts since Friday's market close, are or simply already hitting their own imaginary “ignore” buttons to filter out all the garbage posted on this board, this is a public service announcement.
We bring you a brief summary of the latest “End of Iomega” unconfirmed rumors, substantiated with that most powerful piece of data: “believe it because I will chant it mindlessly until you scream for mercy (or sell your shares).” This Best 10 List starts with negative opinion, builds to irresponsible Rumor Ranting and culminates with Blathering, Yet, Terribly Entertaining Stupidities. In brackets, you will the real message behind each of these quotes.
We now join David Letterman in progress.
“…And the 10 best ways to create fear and negative sentiment about Iomega for your fun and personal profit:”
#10: “The new CEO is (choose any of the following posted descriptions, or make up you own): “wimp, nice guy without force, no experience as a company leader, etc.”
[WHERE ARE YOU YOSERIAN? The Catch-22 game goes on. Nay-sayers were pointing to the lack of a permanent CEO as proof that Iomega was doomed. Now that a CEO has been chosen, it's time to tear him to shreds, to prove that only a loser of a CEO would take a job at a company that is doomed.]
#9: “The floppy and zip disk are obsolete… file transfer over the internet is the technology of the future”
[BACK TO THE FUTURE 4: There were too many posts with substantive data to list which proved how much the poster had distorted the state of present technology. Suffice it to say, it is like someone saying, “The Zip will be obsolete in 10 years, so Iomega is a doomed company -- Sell Now!”]
#8: “The stock only rose on Friday because of a mis-statement in a press conference referring to the number of Zip disks sold (200 instead of 100 million).
[TECHNICAL ANAL-YSIS: Every press release and earnings announcement since August has stated 100 million Zip disks sold, so only an idiot, or someone with an ax to grind would look at this as a reason for the stock to go up. This is a desperation tactic to get the stock price below 5 because if institutional investors jump back into the stock that could destroy the trash talkers' short positions)
#7: Sonyzilla is coming.” (Let's see… Sony (BetaMax) + Godzilla (big expectations, box office dud)… I still don't get it.)
[THE BIG GREEN LIE: A product that has been delayed for months, whose only superior quality (if you can call it that) is its backward compatibility with an obsolete technology. For some real world facts about how an industry standard develops and what are the product characteristics necessary to displace it, please refer to “Just The Facts Ma'am” parts 1, 2 & 3.]
#6: “Fuji will take ATOMM technology and its media supply away from Iomega, so Zip disks will no longer be manufactured using their media (spelling the doom of Iomega)”
[TELL A LIE OFTEN ENOUGH AND PEOPLE MIGHT START TO BELIEVE IT: One of the most underhanded statements, because one poster started his own rumors months ago, and keeps adding new layers to the story, as if his earlier posts are proof that the latest lies are true. We can only rely on what is real, such as the contract between Iomega and Fuji, which grants Iomega the right to use ATOMM media to make Zip disks, and which Fuji then resells for its own profit.]
Letterman breaks in: “Don't worry folks, it gets better from here (dead silence)… Hey it's almost over, here are the last 5 on the list (wild cheering).
#5: "The reported sales numbers by Iomega such as "18 Million Zips shipped" is really a much lower usage number. It is my opinion that most of the Zip drives ever sold are either broken, or not used at all."
[REALITY CHECK, PLEASE: This is a complete lie. Just go into any Kinko's, printer, service bureau, design studio, animation house, ad agency -- I could go on -- and ask them what drive they use. When you multiply their use by all the disks that come to them from outside sources (ergo, other people using their drives to put files on disks to send out), it gives you a more accurate picture of how many Zips are in use, and how often they are used.
#4: “The Click Of Death is caused by PC software that is used to diagnose a Zip disk for that very problem“
[EVERY WHICH WAY BE TRUTH: This is another deceptive myth to propagate the ridiculous exaggeration of “Click Of Death” occurrences. I just talked to the owner of a service bureau who sees hundreds of jobs a week. His real world observations: “a bad Zip? That happens once in a blue moon. But those Syjets and Sparqs, I get bad disks everyday.” BTW, he won't even waste his money on a SuperDisc.]
#3: “The great lobster controversy is a symbol for corporate waste by Iomega management” (my paraphrase of hundreds of posts that this board has suffered through)
[THE CAPTAIN AHAB COMPLEX: This individual has used the reference to a single unconfirmed report of a single Iomega executive buying an expensive lobster lunch. He has made it his personal icon, only to be ridiculed for it by the rest of the board. For the best fluff reading of the month, please read “1999,” followed by “1999 Fluff Warning,” to understand the difference between a warped sense of reality and a twisted sense of humor.]
#2: “Iomega will be sued by shareholders who bought stock during Friday's run-up because they were mis-informed about the number of Zip disks sold.”
[AMBULANCE CHASER ALERT: I told you it was going from the ridiculous to the absurd. These irresponsible Ranting Ravers, will do anything to create uncertainty and fear. Unfortunately, these pathetic individuals can not be prosecuted at present for slander, due to their anonymity and the difficulty in determining if any real damage has been caused by the bile bubbling forth from their blowholes (God, I love alliteration).]
#1: “We are now taking orders on the Orb… We hope that everyone will find out about product ordering information on our web site (this is my paraphrasing) This post was removed from the board by TMF for blatantly plugging another product.
[WHAT NAME WILL SYBIL USE WHEN HE GETS THROWN OFF THE BOARD AGAIN? The wonderful thing about this post was that it finally disclosed this trash talker's true intentions. His history of slamming Iomega with a constant stream of mindless Blathering Yet Terribly Entertaining Stupidities, 101 times per day, and his brazen plug of a competitor's product went even beyond the patience and understanding of the TMF board. BTW, the Orb is another product that does not represent the breakthrough in technology required to supplant Iomega as the industry standard.]
Well folks, we hope you enjoyed tonight's show. Nobody can predict the future, unless you are trying to create a self-fulfilling prophesy. It remains to be seen what will happen to Iomega's share price, but the trash talkers' desperation has forced them to sink to new, uncharted depths of rumor mongering, misinformation, and manipulation. Night everybody!
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"...For some real world facts about how an industry standard develops and what are the product characteristics necessary to displace it..." :
Just The Facts, Ma'am
boards.fool.com
Just the Facts, Ma'am 2
boards.fool.com
Just The Facts, Ma'am 3
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