| To: Mark Oliver who wrote (5094) | 12/23/1998 11:24:00 AM |
| From: Toko | Respond to of 9256 |
| |
Mark,
In response to your questions about Quantum:
1. Not sure what's been announced about Bigfoot's future, but clearly the bigger growth & volumes in the future relate to 7200RPM desktop (the 3.5" Fireball Plus product line recently announced). Developing that line in addition to continuing 5400RPM Fireball has been confirmed.
2. Quantum and Sony did make a joint announcement on A/V. Some A/V articles have mentioned Big Foot, but once the electronics are developed nothing stops you from using them with 3.5" hardware in the future.
3. I heard a rumor that the WDC announcement is with a different components group in Sony.
4. MKE will fully own the offshore portion of the head ops and continue operations using wafers from another supplier. U.S. wafer fabs were put up for sale. No announcements yet on the outcomes.
Regarding the new generation A/V products which will include HDD, I think the new functionality being discussed is pretty interesting. For me discussions about the prices being too high to justify HDD inclusion are somewhat irrelevant. I'm expecting to do a 1-time "bust the budget" conversion in 1-2 years and go all at once for HDTV, thin screen, wide screen, digital record programming, control the house temp, run the laundry, answer the phone, and whatever else it can do, for whatever it costs. Already saving my pennies.
-TOKO |
