FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Iomega Announces New 100MB PocketZip Drive
Breakthrough Value for High-Capacity Storage in Portable Devices
ROY, Utah, March 8, 2001 – Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM), a global leader
in data management solutions, today announced the Iomega PocketZip 100MB
drive for handheld consumer electronics devices. A dramatic new low-cost
portable storage standard for a new generation of digital audio, video, and
imaging devices, the PocketZip 100MB drive leverages Iomega’s proven
PocketZip technology and offers two and a half times the storage capacity.
The new PocketZip 100MB disks will retail for as little as $10 each,
compared with 32MB solid state memory cards priced at about $60-more than
three times the capacity for one sixth the price, or an 18-to-1 cost
savings advantage for consumers using the Iomega PocketZip 100MB disk.
“We expect Iomega’s new 100MB PocketZip drive to be a sensational product
for the next generation of portable digital devices,” said Bruce Albertson,
president and CEO, Iomega Corporation. “We’ve already proven the PocketZip
drive’s reliability in the toughest arena there is, digital audio players.
Now we’re giving consumers enough storage capacity to record one or more
full CDs in virtually any format on an easily swappable and sharable 100MB
disk. That’s an irresistible deal for consumers and a compelling reason for
original equipment manufacturers to migrate from expensive solid state
memory cards to the PocketZip platform.”
Dramatically increased magnetic storage capacity is a continuing trend in
the storage industry. The PocketZip 100MB drive, which lowers the cost of
removable storage to as little as ten cents per megabyte, is expected to be
the catalyst for a new generation of portable devices from Iomega and OEM
partners. “Devices that were impractical with solid state memory costs of
$1.50 to $2.00 per megabyte become eminently practical when consumer costs
with PocketZip disks fall to a dime per megabyte,” said Albertson.
Iomega’s plans include the introduction this fall of a new 100MB model of
its popular HipZip digital audio player. Consumer products that stand to
benefit from lifting the constraints of price and capacity include digital
audio players, handheld MPEG-4 digital video devices, PDAs, and megapixel
digital cameras. Business and home office devices that can benefit from a
built-in PocketZip 100MB drive or accessory include PDAs, laptop computers,
LCD projectors, and printers. And because PocketZip disks are rewritable
and do not need to be physically flipped in the drive to read their full
capacity, they are an ideal format for editing and updating large files.
While the new PocketZip 100MB platform offers greater value to consumers
than ever, it retains the key features and benefits of the original Iomega
PocketZip 40MB disk:
Durability: PocketZip disks are protected from scratches by a durable
metal shell. They easily shrug off the bumps and bangs of portable use that
can ruin CDs.
Affordability: PocketZip disks have always been the economical
alternative to CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Memory Stick solid state
memory cards. Iomega’s new PocketZip 100MB disks are now about 15 times
cheaper, driving the cost of removable storage to as little as $0.10/MB.
Portability: PocketZip disks are matchbook sized and weigh less than half
an ounce, making them the truly pocketable portable solution. PocketZip
40MB disks are also readable in 100MB PocketZip drives.
Security: PocketZip disks are serialized to integrate with popular
digital rights management (DRM) systems from Microsoft, InterTrust, and
others.
With Napster and the music and publishing industries working to reinstate
online copyright protection for musicians and authors, copyright issues
promise to be a much bigger factor in future purchase decisions regarding
digital audio players. Consumer enjoyment of downloadable music will
increasingly depend on owning digital audio players that use convenient
built-in digital rights management (DRM) solutions, such as Iomega’s HipZip
digital audio player.
The Iomega PocketZip platform represents one of today’s best DRM-enabled
solutions because its serialized PocketZip disks are integrated into
popular DRM systems, including Microsoft’s Windows Media Rights Manager
and other DRM technologies (support for InterTrust’s DRM has been announced
and is in development). PocketZip disks enable secure content to be
downloaded and locked to the disk itself, an option not available with CD-R
and most solid state memory card formats.
With PocketZip technology, consumers can enjoy downloading and listening to
both free and secure music or spoken word content on any compatible player,
much as they can today with their collection of CDs. The music industry
gains the assurance that secure music is protected and that licensing
options are available for copies. Consumers gain the ability to build
affordable, portable digital audio collections, making PocketZip disks the
format that allows consumers to enjoy the music they want at the price they
want to pay.
Iomega’s PocketZip 100MB drive and disks will be available internationally
in the third quarter of 2001. Products based on the new drive are expected
to be available for holiday sales.
About Iomega
Iomega Corporation (NYSE:IOM) manufactures and markets the award-winning
Zip, Jaz and PocketZip’ drives and disks, the HipZip digital audio
player, the FotoShow digital image center, LifeWorks software, and Iomega
QuikSync software; Iomega also markets Iomega CD-RW drives, the Predator
CD-RW drive and Iomega Microdrive. Iomega’s products help people to save,
share, manage and create important information such as Internet downloads,
audio files, personal photographs, spreadsheets, and slides, while
protecting that content from viruses and hackers. Used in homes,
businesses, government and educational facilities and by creative
professionals everywhere, Iomega storage solutions are the enabling
technologies preferred by millions. The Company can be reached at
1-888-4-IOMEGA (888-446-6342), or on the Web at http://www.iomega.com.