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Monday, October 27, 1997 Friday, Iomega closed at $28 1/2, down $1/8 (-0.44%). THIS WEEKEND'S RECAP: Posters over the weekend were occupied with discussions of nearly every Iomega product -- Buz, Jaz, Zip, n.hand, Zip Plus -- as well as with the news of a lawsuit against IOM by Nomai. In addition, a few of Iomega's recent advertisements were described and analyzed, and ~IAmErgoSum~ provided estimates of the number of PCs shipped worldwide and in the U.S. Enjoy! INDEX: Use the Search or Find feature of your word processor to locate the article number (Find: 1++, 3++, etc.) - or use AOL's Edit>>Find in Top Window Feature. If Find in Top Window is dimmed, just click on some text, anything, in the IOM Today window and try again.
1++ TMF Cheeze spots Buz.
Recap written by TMF Weekly; posts
compiled by TMF Weekly. As always, the following posts represent the thoughts of our contributors, not those of The Motley Fool.
And now, the Best of the Board...Started 9:01pm ET 10/23/97. 1+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Buz Well, I finally got to see what Buz looks like. The new Tiger catalog showed up in my mailbox the other day -- why, I don't know, because I'm a Mac user and this thing is full of (heeyuck) PC stuff. But there it is on page 37, a sort of turquoise color, with a snazzier shape than even Zip or Jaz. It's got a big Iomega eye logo embossed on the surface of the unit. This thing is definitely designed to be a mass consumer item. Some of the ad copy: << Most PC's today claim to be multimedia capable, but they are missing the most important multimedia of all... Yours! You could have the fastest MMX machine in the world, but you can't get your movies, your pictures, your sound, or your music into it. Introducing the Iomega Buz -- The easiest way to get multimedia from camcorders, DVD-ROMs, VCRs, and laser disc players into a PC! >> And so on. Price listed at $194.99. The only big question I have with this is, how come the copywriter used apostrophe-ess to form a plural with PC, but not with DVD-ROM or VCR? 2+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: $1000 box theory Here's a business hunch: Recently, computer box makers have cited that the emerging $1000 boxes are selling very well. Many have said that this segment is performing much better than expected. If they start to compete here, I think we may soon see a Zip in these boxes. Here's why: - Recent Iomega co-advertising promotion makes Zips very affordable to Mfgs. - New Iomega marketing blitz should create consumer awareness and demand - The cost of adding a Zip should be similar to that of increasing the Hard Drive size. - It just makes sense. Why go from 2 to 4 gigs (HD,) when a Zip is much more functional in this situation... ie first time buyer/ first time web surfer. Other feasible means of competition: - Price. - More memory - Larger hard drive. The Zip is still the best alternative, IMO. Restrictions? - size/shape of the $1000 box shape. Even if the box makers don't include the Zip, these new machines with small hard drives should increase demand for external Zips. I think the new marketing campaign is really going to do some good things for Iomega. 3+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Zip Plus Indeed the Zip Plus is shipping. We received our first shipment in today. Looks very nice... the packaging is very similar to the older Zip drives. The adapter is much smaller, its faster, works with both parallel and SCSI, comes with 5 great pieces of software plus Zip Tools, and its only $50 more. Such a deal! Dan Rapaport 4+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: New $89 Zips - Not refurbished Staples ad in LA Times....... New SCSI and Parallel Zips $89.99 - $139.99 less $50 Staples mail-in rebate. I called Staples in Santa Barbara and confirmed they are not refurbished. Rebate expires 12/31/97. Same ad page has Imation Superdisk parallel drive at $129.99 - $199.99 less $70 Imation mail-in rebate, which also expires on 12/31/97. Looks like the Christmas price cut has hit. I don't see how the competition can possibly compete with this. 5+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Nice Zip Ad! You all should check out USA Today. Back of the second Sports section. Full page ad. Big 'ol red i on there, plus three "Zip Built-In" logos, each shown on their respective computers: Sony, Apple & Compaq. Top of ad in large letters says CREATE ALL YOU WANT. YOU'VE GOT THE CAPACITY. Then tells the bit abt space, 70 floppies etc,. Last line of the paragraph: And with over 8 million drives out there, Zip disks have become the new standard in removable storage! BTW, that Sony looks pretty cool. Has some A/V ports to capture video & sound right on the front of the computer. Buyers will need a place to put all that stuff. 6+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: Nomai << Eric...also smart move by Iomega to be the one to make the announcement and to do so after close on a Friday. >> I don't completely understand the legalities about this suit filed by Nomai but find it interesting that IOM announced the news after market close on Friday. Usually bad news comes out on Friday's after the bell IMHO so that everyone will have the weekend to digest the new and not panic on Monday. It would be nice to know when this suit was actually filed so that we could compare that to the timing of the release from IOM. The IOM release disturbs me because of the 2nd paragraph. It seems that IOM continues to hang their hat on the assumption that people will not buy the Nomai disks if they promote the idea that the Nomai disks are not 100% Zip compatible. This release actually doesn't say that the disks aren't compatible with all Zip drives but that they are not "Fully" compatible. If you want to be a stickler they actually say "with Iomega Zip drive". Drive as in the singular form. One could interpert this to mean that there is only one Zip drive that Nomai's disks are not Fully compatible with. Nomai's disks are not fully compatible with Zip Tools. Now that will certainly prevent the sale of Nomai's disks. Why does IOM even promote this? Why not just stick to the patent and copywrite issues? Aren't they enough to win? That last sentence in the 3rd paragraph almost got by me. "Additionally, Nomus claims in the suit to have offered the Nomai XHD disks for sale in the United States." Does this mean that they are currently selling the disks in the US? At the least they have offered them for sale. Harry L. Roberts 7+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: n.Hand Data Transfer HeyKerry wrote: << ... about nhand, I'm still clueless how nhand files will transfer to my desktop CPU.... Assuming their isn't Zip capatibility, will I have to buy a stand-alone nhand drive or what? This is a major thang that I don't think has been adequately discussed here.... >> Other posters wrote about basically the same thing. I have been posting and speculating on some solutions to that concern before the question was raised. I am a little bit shocked and surprised that the same question remains. Don't some of us own or have some experience with digital cameras? How do the files get transferred from the flash memory of the digital camera to the computer? Usually through that SERIAL cable from the digital camera to the serial port of the computer, I think. A slow slow process. Iomega has mentioned, if I remember correctly, that they are working on making it easier to transfer n.Hand data to the computer. If a caddy system will be there in the more distant future for future versions of Zip drives to read n.Hand disks directly, then maybe no "transfer" is necessary. The n.Hand data are already there readily readable by the computer with a future Zip drive. Regardless, I think there will still be a port on the n.Hand camera or device, and I have been speculating that there may be a faster port than the serial port currently being used on digital cameras (such as a miniaturized PP or faster port, miniaturized at the camera end). Please don't forget that an n.Hand digital camera or device will have to have a n.Hand drive inside. It has to write data onto the n.Hand disks, and it probably will be able to read the data too. Put the n.Hand disk in the drive of the camera or device, and hook it up through the faster port (my speculation) of that n.Hand camera or device to the computer for the transfer of data to your computer --- the RAM, hard drive or Zip disk. Just a lay person's humble opinions and speculations. As "usaul", I may be wrong. 8+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: BARRON'S The top ten investment Web Sites according to Barron's are: Microsoft Investor 3 1/2 stars www.investor.msn.com DBC Online 3 1/2 stars www.dbc.com The Motley Fool 3 1/2 stars www.fool.com Morningstar.Net 3 1/2 stars www.morningstar.net Yahoo! 3 1/2 stars www.yahoo.com Briefing.com 3 stars www.briefing.com The Daily Rocket 3 stars www.dailyrocket.com InvesTOOLS 3 stars www.investools.com The Street.com 3 stars www.thestreet.com Wall Street City 3 stars www.wallstreetcity.com 9+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Iomega's new ads The double-spread in Newsweek has been mentioned, and I think someone also mentioned the fractional ad on the right-hand page following the spread. (This is the square ad picturing a Zip disk with its label made to look like the control panel of a VCR). The caption is: VCR for the Internet. What I didn't see anyone mention is the terrific placement of this ad. It's smack dab in the middle of a two-page story about Schools and the Internet. Can't help wonder if this was planned, or just a lucky accident for Iomega. If you read the article, which basically drives home the point that all major universities have embraced the Internet as an integral part of the curriculum, that little Zip ad becomes more than subliminal...it's almost blatant. I thought it was great :-) 10++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: "VST Delivers" So starts a nice article in the December 1997 issue of MacWorld entitled "VST Delivers Stuff to Stuff Your Bay". Full article at: VST Delivers Stuff to Stuff Your Bay [http://www.macworld.com/pages/december.97/Feature.4073.html] From the article: << The PowerBook isn't perfect. It's not easy to back up its hard disk, for example: You can either do the floppy-swapping dance with a tall pile of disks or hook your 'Book up to the local network and slowly siphon files to another Mac or a server. In our opinion, the most useful member of the VST expansion-bay family is also the newest one: the $349 VST Zip 100 Drive. Available for all three expansion-bay-equipped PowerBook lines, beginning on September 10, this slim Iomega Zip drive uses standard Zip cartridges and offers road warriors the standard Zip experience: rugged and convenient storage and backup on 100-MB cartridges. >> Nice article. However, it seems odd that a December issue is stating that the VST Zip 100 Drive became available on September 10th? As far as I know it still hasn't shipped. :-( 11++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Sunday Dallas Morning News Today, the paper ran a supplement about the Better Business Beaureu going online. The cover was a giant picture (drawing) of a computer. No brand names at all. Just a computer, monitor and a keyboard. Sitting on top of the cpu was a beautiful blue Zip drive, and under it was a beautiful green Jaz drive. Brand names on the front of both! Neither drive was mentioned any where in the copy. Just sitting there.... like it was standard equipment for any computer owner. 12++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: 3rd Q PC Shipments Dataquest and IDC released their estimates of PC shipments for the 3rd quarter. DATAQUEST: Worldwide Unit Shipments (in thousands): Company Q3/97 Q3/96 market share (%) Compaq 2,773 1,778 13.7 IBM 1,655 1,491 8.2 Dell 1,215 758 6.0 HP 1,175 700 5.8 Packard Bell 940 1,017 4.6 Others 12,503 11,687 61.7 Totals 20,261 17,430 U.S. PC Unit Shipments (in thousands): Company Q3/97 Q3/96 market share (%) Compaq 1,575 966 19.1 Dell 847 486 10.3 Packard Bell 637 727 8.1 IBM 660 608 8.0 HP 595 336 7.2 Gateway 533 399 6.3 Others 3,382 3,203 41.0 Totals 8,265 6,725 IDC: Worldwide Unit Shipments (in thousands) Company Q3/97 Q3/96 market share (%) Compaq 2,775 1,822 14.2 IBM 1,661 1,512 8.5 Dell 1,221 796 6.2 HP 1,126 695 5.8 Packard Bell 990 1,006 5.1 Others 11,778 11,082 60.2 Totals 19,550 16,913 U.S. Unit Shipments (in thousands) Company Q3/97 Q3/96 market share (%) Compaq 1,578 943 18.8 Dell 812 495 9.7 Packard Bell 681 722 8.1 IBM 652 615 7.8 HP 593 348 7.1 Others 4,061 3,851 48.5 Totals 8,377 6,975 Regards, Bill Polk _______________________________ End Report. Posts covered through 9:00pm ET 10/26/97. _______________________________
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