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Wednesday, November 12, 1997 Tuesday, Iomega closed at $27 15/16, down $1 1/16 (-3.66%). TODAY'S RECAP: Posters discussed the significance of recent Iomega-related announcements, especially the Micron line of computers featuring the Zip drive as the a: drive. Others focused on potential competition, an article in IBD and a report of a $70 Zip drive. 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++ Warren555 "answers" the threat of IBM's new high-capacity drives.
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 11/10/97. 1+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: eye be em Large capacity drives (>5 gb) were supposed to kill zip a year ago. Why do you think 16 gb drives will have any more impact? I doubt people will suddenly lose the need to shuffle files between computers. (At least not until super-high bandwidth, cheap, secure, and reliable internet connections are available - and even then, I still want a way to keep files/data in my hands) The capacity of my hard drive isn't what fostered the purchase of a zip drive for my company. We needed a portable backup and storage solution for a reasonable price that was compatible with as many other computers as possible. It's also a handy way to keep business and personal data/files from getting mixed up. I use it to exchange artwork with printing service bureaus. For some people, upgrading a hard drive isn't an option. They spent their money and aren't capable of, or interested in, being on the leading edge. They might actually use a zip to off-load files for capacity constraint reasons. Personally, I think the IBM drive looks great (I hope gmr is as reliable as it is dense). However, I'd rather have two 8 gb drives than one 16gb drive. A hardware failure on a 16 gb drive full of EVERYTHING would be a real headache. I'd rather have two or more "low" capacity drives for redundant backup - AND a zip or jazz for ultra-safeness. happy trails 2+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: I Think I Hear A Freight Train As if we haven't had enough news already...how does a big article in Tuesday's IBD interviewing Ted Briscoe about Iomega's spot in the Laptop market sound? A brief excerpt: << Things are only getting more complicated. For example, Roy, Utah-based Iomega Corp. wants firms to use its Zip drives with their laptops. These drives let employees store much more data. Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike Inc. and Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola Inc. now are using Zips companywide. Of course, there also are some corporate problems that removable drives help cure. Ted Brisco, president of Iomega's personal storage division, recently spoke with IBD about the use of removable drives. IBD: How has the corporate world reacted to the ability of individuals to have huge data-storage capability? Brisco: We've seen a lot of interest from corporate users. It's becoming a popular solution for remote sales, marketing and service groups. >> Computers & Technology: Mobile Storage: Carry Desktop In Your Pocket 3+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Tie Ratios go up again! Micron, Symantic, SystemSoft. All released news Monday that concerns us and it couldn't be better. Zip has had a lot of credibility since day one, and the OEM's have been adding SKU's steadily since Micron first announced a zip SKU 2 years ago. I think ErgoSum has documented 93 zipped SKU's in his last roundup, and more have been added since. The debate has raged here since the beginning as to just how far the zip would go, from the universal floppy for the multi-media age to a niche product that could never see universal adoption because it's not needed by the masses and businesses will never want employees to have that much information is their pockets potentially going home with them. It hasn't been decided yet of course, but evidence keeps mounting that zip is going to be a lot more then a niche product and a bullish read on Microns news of using zip as a bootable "A:" drive could (without stretching credibility too much) be interpreted as a harbinger of things to come. The zip as standard equipment is great, the zip as a bootable "A" drive is more then great (although if you ask me I'd say it's about time!). Having software vendors capitalize on zips usability and capabilities in ways that no other media can offer is not icing on the cake, it's a basic necessity if my goals for zip are going to become reality. Utilizing zip as a foundation for doing things in new and easier ways is what it's all about, if zip was no more then a fancy name for a new floppy I'd be a fool to think Iomega will be much bigger company in the near future. I've never been focused on the drives as a meaningful fundamental to Iomega's success, I always expected the Licensee's to carry that ball, and in fact I was surprised that Iomega was required to ramp past the 8 million per year production capability. I didn't understand why MCI wasn't going full bore with zip and it concerned me until I discovered that MCI is dedicated to creating fully automated robotic production lines (not only for zip) that allow them to obtain nearly 100% quality control standards as well as reduce costs in a ramp-up much faster then alternate methods. MCI can also facilitate prototype runs on these lines because of their extreme flexibility allowing them to shorten the R&D cycle. I'm resting easier knowing that MCI is moving toward a major zip production capability and I believe that 98 will see a big contribution from them in supplying the market as other OEM's move toward the standard "A" drive multi-media floppy. Iomega considers themselves a media company, and I agree that that's the right focus, getting the drive market launched and expanding it to a point where it becomes self perpetuating is part of the foundation Iomega is building for their media business. The real excitement for me as an investor is the disks, without applications that consume those disks I think tie ratios would be disappointing, thinking in terms of 1995 computing won't help users to understand the benefits of a zip at all. Software companies need to step outside the box when they look at zip and how it may enhance their products usability, utility and appeal to consumers over the next several years. Disk compression (mentioned here in the last few days) is an old idea that has failed, and in fact caused more data loss then anyone in the disk compression industry would ever admit. Compressing a disk seemed like a good idea in the beginning because storage was limited, but it adds a fragile layer to the equation that fails too easily and renders the entire disks contents inaccessible. Stacker and DoubleSpace are two examples of disk compression that got off to lightening fast starts and disappeared just as fast as users realized that the free lunch of compression really cost more then breakfast and dinner combined. Most everyone has opted to skip that free lunch completely and I don't believe that compression has a future except on a file by file level, compressing a disk is just too risky. Compression is inside the box thinking, and a poor way to try and increase the utility of a zip disk (or any disk for that matter). However, the Norton approach of using the vast space available on a zip to store a complete customized rescue disk is clever (why I didn't think of it is beyond me) and definitely adds value to a zip drive. Not to mention adding one disk to the tie ratio of anyone who uses it, which is why I think it's a perfect application of zip. A user gains the safety-net of a custom recovery for his/her system which is a win, Iomega sells another disk which is a win and Norton gains a customer too, also a win, but I don't own Symantic stock (yet) so that one doesn't effect me directly. Buzz is a similar and unique way to consume zip disks, as is RecordIt and WebBuddy. As other vendors see the 10+ million zip users out there as a market they'd like to captivate many will come up with products of twists on existing products that also consume zip disks, it's a natural and at this point 10 million users is a lucrative market for any software company. Put it on a zip disk and squirrel it away, or use it every day, either way it's all the same to us. Tie Ratios, As a last observation with the "A" drive zips coming many users will create a bootable system disk just because they can and they'll probably squirrel that one away too. Tie Ratios may have just gone up by 2 disks per user. Rescue disk and generic boot disk. 4+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Micron news After having 24 hours to contemplate the news I have come full circle and join some of the others here as thinking this is very significant. At first I thought, "That's nice but Micron always promotes Zip and won't sell that many more Zips to make a difference." It was short-sighted thinking. Of course, if Dell did it it would be better but these things have taken time. 24 hours later (give or take), I realize (after CayugaDan's and some other great posts) that I've misread this. I should be happy that the latest step in replacing the floppy drive has been started. The Zip has lost is A: slot virginity with a major PC maker (unfortuanetly Cayuga Computers does not count LOL). Micron Electronics (MUEI) is not in the charity business. KE does not have pictures of the CEO of MUEI in compromising positions. Micron is in a very competitive business trying to make a buck or two for its shareholders. Micron believes its customers want to be able to use the Zip drive as their disaster recovery drive. I've said many times before that disaster recovery is all that the floppy is useful for today, for any computer connected to a LAN or the internet. In Micron computers, the Zip assumes this role. Norton agrees with Micron's customers that the Zip is superior to the floppy for disaster recovery. Let's cruise back to 1990 and see what the floppy used to do: 1. Software distribution 2 File backup/archive 3. Disaster recovery 4. Transfer of files between computers Removable storage has always been included in computers because the above four tasks are critical. Before the Millenium (date not computer LOL) I see the following devices shipping with a majority of computers to do these tasks as: 1. CD-ROM (DVD-ROM) 2. Zip Drive 3. Zip Drive 4. Zip Drive/Modem/Network Interface Card I have felt that the majority of external Zip drives have sold because people need to do #2 and/or #4 and the floppy no longer can. The great thing for the Zip drive, and why the competition has such a hard time, is that #4 only works if everyone has the same drive. So even though the LS-120 lost its A: drive virginity first it could not do #4 even approaching the scale of the Zip. The floppy drive can still do #4 but only on files from software circa 1990; such as simple spreadsheets or word processing. Look at the shareware file sizes these days...the good stuff is all in the 10s of MBs. Someday internet technology on all ends will get fast enough (maybe) to allow your modem to do #4. That's fine. You would still need the Zip drive for #2 and #3. All four uses are equally important, so if the Zip drive becomes standard for just one of the tasks it will ship in the majority of PCs for a long time. The computing public does not let go of standards easily (people still get floppies in their PCs) so if the Zip ever got there it would stay there for a long time. At $28 for IOM the Zip is not expected to replace the floppy by the Wise. Patrick Keeler 5+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Micron And Apple I have been ruminating about Micron (as PKeeler has) as well as the Apple announcement (first non-tower desktop Zip) that appears to be overlooked by many. To me this twin news, on the same day, screams out one phrase: Consumer Demand. There is simply no way that Micron takes that bold step of making Zip standard across the Millenia line without the data from the last year that this is what most of their customers want. Apple, by putting the Zip in the non-tower desktop, uses up a very valuable drive bay on the computer. Only one reason to do it...consumer demand. Both of these are milestones for Iomega in seeing the removable storage sector transformed. Since consumer demand is a big unknown (I've always thought that internal Zips compete with scanners, larger monitors, more memory, and every other option that the salesman says, "For another 100 bucks you can have. . ."), it is refreshing indeed to see these two pieces of news, both of which are more significant (to me) than the mere inclusion of another SKU. Eric P.S. MBAspeak: Monkey head, eh? May the flies of 1,000 camels take refuge in your armpits.....yeah, I think you're right, that is the best way to get a thread going. 6+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: New Zips for $69.99 I just got back from Staples. On Saturday, they lowered their regular price on the Zip to $119.99. The rebate of $50 is still offerred into early January so you can get that great holiday gift for only $69.99. Joe Devenney _______________________________ End Report. Posts covered through 9:00pm ET 11/11/97. _______________________________
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