Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

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Time for the trusted disc drive!

May 12, 2005
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/May/12/biz/stories/02biz.htm
Seagate rated as market-share Giant
Sentinel staff report
SCOTTS VALLEY -- Bolstered by record quarterly unit shipments and revenue, Seagate Technology confirmed Wednesday analyst reports that it has strengthened its lead as the top name in hard disc drives by holding the No. 1 position in overall market share, and the No. 1 spot in three of the four key markets, including consumer electronics, enterprise and desktop computing.

Seagate is also the only company of the top four competitors in the mobile/notebook computing market that is growing in unit shipments.

"Hard disc drives are everywhere now, and they are enabling a digital lifestyle in ways the world has never before seen," said Bill Watkins, Seagate chief executive officer. "Our industry is at the beginning of a growth cycle that could be as big as the PC revolution of the 80s. Consumer electronics is the primary growth driver, because people are voracious when it comes to getting more gigabytes for their MP3 players, their TVs, gaming devices and PCs. And cell phones, autos, digital cameras and storage in your home appliances will soon be eating up even more gigabytes and terabytes of hard disc drives."

The disc drive industry is projected to exceed $30 billion and 550 million units annually by 2008, according to Gartner Research, up from $21.4 billion in 2004. Seagate is shipping almost 10 million more drives per quarter than it did two years ago.

The most recent report from Gartner Dataquest identified Seagate as the leader in hard drive shipments. Among the 10 companies tracked by Gartner Dataquest, Seagate holds more than 28 percent of the total market for disc drives, more than 10 percentage points higher than the nearest competitor.

Seagate also bolstered its No. 1 spot in the consumer electronics market with nearly 30 percent market share. In addition to being the most widely adopted disc drive for hand-held music players, Seagate drives have been adopted by more TV digital video recorders than any other brand.