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Friday, May 8,
1998
Special Note: This is the last issue of IOM in Fooldom Today. We'd like to thank everyone for reading and encourage all our readers to join "Iomega in Fooldom
Right Now" -- happening 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in our Iomega
message
folders. If you dig Iomega, hate Iomega, or just want to see what everyone
else has to say, that's the place to be -- please drop by! Thanks Fools.
Thursday, Iomega closed at $7 13/16, down $3/16 (-2.34%)
TODAY'S RECAP: Well, today is the last day for IOM in Fooldom Today. Posts that made the cut for this last report discuss Iomgea's clik! drive, partnerships with Microsoft, ZipPlus complaints, and an overall look at quality control.
Thanks for being a loyal reader, Fool. I've enjoyed putting together this report daily for the past year almost, and I wish you the best of luck on your own personal investments whatever they may be. Please join the Iomega conversation directly by stopping by the message folders on AOL and the web.
TMF Weekly, signing off.
Enjoy, and Fool on!
INDEX:
Recap written and posts compiled by TMF
Weekly.
Edited and mailed by TMF Selena.
Kudos? Gripes? Questions? Let us know.
As always, the following posts represent the thoughts of our contributors,
not those of The Motley Fool.
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And now, the Best of the Board...Started 9:00pm ET 5/6/98.
1+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: The Floppy-less Mac
Date: 5/6/98 11:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: D Turkey
It's official folks-the new iMac, announced today and scheduled to go on sale in August, will not have a floppy drive.
<< In another departure from desktop tradition, the new system will not include a floppy drive. Schiller said most users will install software over a network or via CD-ROMs. >>
News: iMac: New twist on Mac design
http://www8.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1218/nw_imacside.html
2+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: imac no zippy
Date: 5/7/98 11:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Duuwhee
Harry, read the link RPaul provided. I have included it here as well. The site doesn't allow cut and paste in order to thwart intended blatant ripoffs of their intellectual property by people like.... ummmm, me. Iomega says the problem was discovered in the course of its own internal long term quality testing.
Iomega bug favors Mac users
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,21859,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh
I didn't make it up.
My speculation that it wouldn't hurt the bottom line much was based the assertion in the article that the problem hadn't appeared as a result of significant consumer complaints.
Iomega seems to be taking a proactive approach. The situation bears close attention, but unless the company is behaving in a misleading fashion in the article, the problem to date has likely been minimal.
3+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Microsoft / Zip Built In Promotion
Date: 5/7/98 12:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: CayugaDan
Got a really nice piece of mail today from iomega from the Built-In Partner Program.
"Get $25 back for every five Iomega Zip ATAPI drives you build into systems loaded with genuine Microsoft Windows 95. Just mail one or more Iomega Zip Built-In drive 5-pack coupon(s) and 10 or more $25 Microsoft OEM 5-pack coupons to receive your rebate..."
Microsoft include a $25 coupon in every five pack of OEM Windows 95. Obviously they are teaming up with Microsoft for this promnotion.
The 14x11.5 (estimate) flyer goes on to explain why you should include Zip drives in every machine, talks about the support dealers can get technically and in marketing the drive, and talks about how "Iomega is serious about getting the word out about Zip Drives & Disks... Our advertising includes TV, Radio, Magazine, Newspaper, and Outdoor. Get Ready! - Customers wil demand Zip drives in their next PC"
It shows magazine ads, the Zip painted busses, machines with Zip built in, the rebate certificate (which looks like MSFT's)
And you get a free Zip Built in clock for enrolling!
Looks great. Very impressive.
4+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: Clik on Jupiter?
Date: 5/7/98 4:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: PaulL73
from huibs:
<< "Microsoft is seeking new partners for Jupiter. The basic spec is roughly the same as for the HPC platform, although sources close to the company expect virtually all Jupiter machines to include self-contained VGA connectors (needed to deliver presentations or connect to external monitors), large amounts of RAM, better support of soft modems, and support for removable storage media such as Iomega Corp.'s new family of 40-Mbyte Clik! drives."
..oh my, oh my..
..could be, iomega is really on to something here..
..no fun being on the short side of microsoft.. >>
I've been restraining myself about clik! because Iomega has been so restrained about it -- must be that f-ing lawsuit over the Jaz2 announcement. But this little hunk of news plus the licensing arrangements with NEC and Citizen (two monsters) is leading me to believe that the real razor blades are inside the clik! casing, not inside the Zip's.
clik! makes HUGE sense in all the handheld stuff that's going to start proliferating on the shelves.
And I think Dottie was right on the mark about clik! and OEMs: I'm fine with Iomega lining up OEMs and clik-integrated products and letting the standalone drives be the secondary concern -- if that's what Iomega is doing.
Do I add anything to the Iomega bottom line for this year? No. Nothing real to touch yet and far too many if's left, including the Microsoft one of whether they'll actually throw in with the clik! or not. But the clik sure seems to be a key piece for Microsoft getting into hardware in a significant way....
5+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Thoughts
Date: 5/7/98 4:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: ETurkey
The essence of Zip was that it is so simple, any idiot can plug one in, even me. The one page installation sheet was a godsend.
Zip+ was supposed to be both idiot-proof and one-size-fits-all. That was its essence....you pay extra for that added bonus.
We now see that it fails both tests.
If it is not one-size-fits-all then it should be canned. Dumped. I didn't think much of it when it was announced, and I think less of it now.
The mass market consumer, if they are anything like me, get terrified buying a new computer gizmo when they fear it might not work on their set up. Zip was supposed to eliminate that. They kept it simple, but Zip+ doesn't do that. If Iomega wants to sell it in a niche, out of catalogues that more savvy computer users tend to use, well, that is a concession I might live with...but it should be out of the stores...gone.
The core of the Zip, was the Keep It Simple Stupid concept.
By the way, the name "ATAPI" should be dumped in favor of something "regular" people understand.
Last thought for the day...Apple now has a translucent computer with a USB port......I assume IOM will make a USB Zip ..... but......will the USB Zip be translucent?
6+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: drive problems?
Date: 5/7/98 7:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: MNNML
<< With at least a half dozen Jaz drives (including my new Jaz2) and about 30 Zip drives amongst my group and in my own personal use, over the time frame of just on 3 years for the earliest dozen Zips or so, as far as I am aware there has been only a single bad cable right out of the box as a problem of any sort. >>
Yes, Larry, though, this information isn't very useful, as it is totally anecdotal. I'm not trying to offend you, its just that entire lots of product may have a defect - and someone not buying out of that lot won't be affected. My first Jaz Drive didn't work after the first use, and destroyed 3 disks, before it was replaced (quite promptly) by Cayuga Dan. This little incident shouldn't imply that Jaz is a bad product. Its just that neither of our experiences is a random sample of users.
The bottom line is that many here used to deny ANY quality control problems at IOM. Now it appears that there are some. The restrictions on using Zip Plus seem ridiculous. In fact, many of the premises that the bears have espoused here have, in fact, come true. Still, posts keep appearing acting like 'a kick in the butt' at Roy will have any meaningful impact on a company that indeed appears to have several problems. The razor blade analogy appears to be false. Earnings estimates are being lowered, the zip penetration ratio into PCs overall doesn't appear to be increasing, and further competition is coming. It was my recollection that a fairly regular poster here a couple of years ago predicted that unless the Zip were in a SIGNIFICANT number of computers (and 13 million isn't really significant, except a niche market), that it could easily be taken over by a better mousetrap. In any case, from a purely Foolish perspective, how does one justify holding stock in this company that is certainly DEAD money for at least 2 quarters when there are other investments out there. For those that take this as a personal attack, I'm sorry - but this forum is about how to make money in investing, and having a large or significant portion of one's investment dollars in this company doesn't make (and hasn't made) sense for several months.
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End Report. Posts covered through 9:00pm ET 5/7/98
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