More Hard Drive Vendor Consilidation On Horizon ?

[iGary]

• ...The most popular candidates include Samsung Electronics, the smallest player in commodity drives; Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. (TAIS), whose commitment to the drive industry some called questionable; Maxtor Corp., which has been late to enter the 2.5-inch drive market; and Fujitsu Ltd., whose market share in mobile and enterprise drives will be threatened by new entrants...
  
  http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1649498,00.asp
  
  

 

[sechs]

Everybody but Maxtor is a conglomorate. I feel that these companies are least likely to leave the market -- but also less likely to innovate. Their major customers are themselves and OEMs.

 

[Tea]

Everybody but Maxtor is a conglomorate. I feel that these companies are least likely to leave the market -- but also less likely to innovate. Their major customers are themselves and OEMs.

Seagate

Western Digital

 

[Mercutio]

Wow. That would be a singularity of mediocrity unlike anything the world has seen before.

 

[Tea]

Hmmm ... good point, Mercutio. What you are saying then, if I get your point, is tht the hard drive makers fall into two classes:

* Subsiduary arms of giant conglomerates with, in their own particular way, excellent products. Hitachi, Samsung, Fujitsu, and Toshiba.

* Stand-alone drive companies with, on the whole, medioche products. Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital.

Hmmm ..... Stacks up pretty well, though you have to ignore Seagate's superb SCSI drives and, going back a while, Fujitsu's lack-lustre IDE products.

Interesting theory!

 

[Buck]

I don't foresee any mergers. Plus, the major players like WD, Seagate and Maxtor are just becoming more competitive with each other.

 

[sechs]

Isn't Seagate losing money again?

I honestly think that it's more likely that companies will simply leave the business rather than merge or sell.

 

[Buck]

Isn't Seagate losing money again?

Yes, both Seagate and Maxtor are hurting. They've essentially scared off some investors from the hard drive segment. Thus, regardless if your hard drive company is doing well right now, the stock prices will be low (this probably applies most to WD since they don't have the investment of other ventures, yet they met their Wall street expectations and turned another quarterly profit).

 

[iGary]

I don't foresee any mergers...

By 2006, Western Digi will have finally have fulfilled their destiny by merging with Kellogg's.

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  This is what a Redhill Computing promotion in 2006 could look like !