In 1980, many said that IBM was missing the boat in the nascent personal computing market. The Apple II was selling like hotcakes. Even Radio Shack was beating them with the TRS-80.
A year later IBM unveiled the IBM PC. With it, IBM redefined personal computers and changed the trajectory of one of the most significant markets in history. From then on, very few would consider IBM late to the party; rather, they were right on time.
Fast forward to 2009
Seagate is not the first vendor to enter the SSD market, much to the chagrin of many who thought they were missing the boat. Now that Seagate has announced their first SSD product, some analysts see their entry as just what this young market needs:
“It’s great for Seagate to be getting involved and great for the NAND side to see someone of Seagate’s knowledge moving into that area.” – Bob Merritt, Convergent Semiconductors
Coincidentally, reports out this week show evidence that the SSD market is not as far along as previously thought.
Time will tell if Seagate’s timing in the SSD market pays off for Seagate like the Personal Computer did for IBM. That said, it’s encouraging to see external affirmation for a similar approach to this significant change in the storage device industry.
