Iomega
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1980 |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California, USA |
| Industry | Computer |
| Products | Computer storage |
| Employees | 30,000 |
| Website | [1] |
Iomega is a producer of consumer external, portable and networking storage hardware. Established in the 1980s, Iomega has sold more than 400 million digital storage drives and disks. Recently purchased by EMC in June 2008, Iomega has become the SOHO/SMB arm of the world’s largest storage company.
On April 8, 2008, EMC Corporation announced[1] its plans to acquire Iomega for a consideration of US$213M. The acquisition was completed in June 2008[2].
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[edit] Products
Iomega designed and manufactured a range of products designed to compete with and ultimately replace the 3.5" Floppy Disk.
Some of these products came very close to this goal whilst also achieving status in their own right as highly collectable items.
Initial Iomega products connected to a computer via SCSI or Parallel port. Later models used USB.
[edit] Controversy
Iomega has been widely criticized for customer service issues dating back to 1998, when Wired covered the company's $100 million "advertising blitz" at a time of plummeting stocks and two class-action lawsuits brought to the company by frustrated customers.[3]
In one lawsuit customers complained that Iomega's warranty promised free technical support, but once customers called, they were told they would be charged. In a second suit the company was charged with not delivering on cash rebates promised on Zip and Jaz drives sold under promotion.[3]
Iomega's faulty zip drives became known for an anomaly known as "the click of death", where — after a time — zip drives would no longer be able to read disks and would instead produce a loud clicking sound. Many users reported damaged disks and data loss.[4]
Despite the impact on the company's stock price, and negative media coverage about the company's legal, business, and customer service issues, their sales continued to grow.[3]
[edit] See also
- Nomaï - A competitor that was acquired and closed down.
- SyQuest Technology
[edit] References
- ^ Press release EMC To Acquire Iomega. Accessed 2008-04-09
- ^ http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2213837/emc-agrees-iomega-deal EMC secures Iomega acquisition. Accessed 2008-10-08
- ^ a b c Joe Ashbrook Nickell, Wired.Are Iomega's Woes Just Growing Pains?. February 20, 1998. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
- ^ Paul Festa, CNET. "'Click of death' strikes Iomega"
[edit] External links
- Iomega
- Iomega Europe
- Iomega Problems from MacInTouch Special Reports
- Report: Iomega | Watch out for Iomega Porducts/service from Rip-off Report
