It would have been easy to overlook last week's flurry of announcements from hard disk drive stalwart Seagate. After all, this company has been making component hard drives for more than 20 years - and disk storage is, as everyone knows, a rather mundane commodity market where the greatest excitement comes from news that someone has packed another gigabyte of magnetic bits onto the head of a pin. So I won't blame you if you didn't pay much attention to - or even see - the announcement of 10 new disk-based products, including a 750GB hard disk for digital voice recorders (DVR) and an 8GB pocket drive.
If you missed this announcement, you also missed an interesting transformation at the leading provider of hard drive component devices. Over the past year, Seagate has made significant in-roads into the branded products business, fueled in part by its acquisition last year of Mirra (DEMOmobile 2003). Consumer digital media and electronic devices are driving both dollar and unit growth in the hard drive storage market, and it's just not good enough for Seagate to have a big share of that market as an OEM supplier. The company wants to get its own brands into the market.
But with the exception of the Mirra Personal Server and the Pocket Drive, most hard disk storage is wrapped with a compelling media application or service. What's an iPod, for example, without a big drive to store all that data? But few of the millions of iPod owners would think of their lovely MP3 player as a hard drive that happens to store and play back music. No, these devices are decidedly a music player that can hold a lot of songs. Little elves could be inside the iPod, for all they care.
So for Seagate to make it in the branded products consumer market, the company has to deliver services and applications wrapped around its hard drive storage. That spells big opportunity for digital media ventures looking for an avenue to market. It may not be enough, in time, to be a great photo sharing or video or music site. These companies may present more strongly as a vertically integrated device/service combination, and Seagate just may be a motivated partner.
I've run several scenarios by the leadership of Seagate's branded products initiatives, and have been impressed by their open-mindedness and initiative to grow and capture this emerging market segment.
So although last week's barrage of hard disk-based products may have missed your attention, I suspect that in due time, Seagate will turn a lot of heads with an innovative mix of digital media applications and services - all of which rely on reliable storage to make them tick.
When that day arrives, a lot of folks will be surprised and maybe even skeptical of this "new kid" in the digital media town. Funny, but Seagate will have been there all along.
Chris Shipley is the executive producer of NetworkWorld's DEMO Conferences, Editor of DEMOletter and a technology industry analyst for nearly 20 years. She can be reached at chris@demo.com. Shipley, has covered the personal technology business since 1984 and is regarded as one of the top analysts covering the technology industry today. Shipley has worked as a writer and editor for variety of technology consumer magazines, including PC Week, PC Magazine, PC/Computing, and InfoWorld, US Magazine and Working Woman. She has written two books on communications and Internet technology, has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence, and was named the No. 1 newsletter editor by Marketing Computers for two years in a row. To subscribe to DEMOletter please visit: http://www.idgexecforums.com/demoletter/index.html.
This column was reprinted with permission of Network World Inc. All registered trademarks are owned by IDG. More information can be found at http://www.idgef.com.
Copyright 2006 IDG. All rights Reserved
The opinions expressed herein or statements made in the above column are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Wisconsin Technology Network, LLC. (WTN). WTN, LLC accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein.
Computer memory is the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to improve the performance of your system. Find RAM memory upgrades for desktops, laptops, servers, and printers all backed by a lifetime warranty and guaranteed compatible with your computer. Shipping is an everyday low price of $1.99! Computer Memory Outlet sells memory compatible with all leading computer manufacturers like Dell, Apple, Compaq, HP, Sony, IBM, Lenovo, and many more.”
[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]
Share this:
More about:
| Sep |
October 2008 |
Nov |
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| |
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
| 12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
| 19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
| 26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
