Iomega banks on new Zip drive
The company announces a new low-price storage drive Monday for the retail market, hoping to capitalize on the low-cost PC craze.
The Zip Internal ATAPI, to be released on April 22, will enable lower-end PCs to incorporate the 100MB internal Zip drive that was previously only available with a pricier interface technology. The drive will be offered for $99.95.
The company's Zip drives came under fire earlier this year when users claimed serious malfunctions in their drives and disks in a problem that has come to be known as the "click of death," as first reported by CNET's NEWS.COM.
Iomega is also looking for a way to turn around its first-quarter earnings, which it reported Friday at $18.6 million in the red. The new ATAPI drive is seen as an attempt to increase sales in the retail sector, which have higher margins than sales to PC manufacturers.
Inexpensive ATAPI-based PCs allow users to mix and match different drives. The SCSI interface is faster but found on pricier systems.
"In the past, they've had this drive available for SCSI-based machines," said Paul Giles, assistant manager for Iomega products at Insight, a PC and peripherals retailer. "But this interface is what most home users use. Iomega expects this to be a very popular product."
"Today's consumer is a cost-conscious consumer," said Ted Pine, a storage analyst with Info-Tech Research. "This a lower-cost Zip for the lower-cost PC buyer."