Iomega, The Fool and The Big Picture
By Patrick M. Spilotro (BYTEUP)

Two tenets I find in Fooldom over and over again are "do your own research" and "buy the company, not the stock." Being lucky enough to live in Las Vegas, I can cruise across town to Comdex once a year, not only to research stocks but to check out companies---to meet their people, see their PR machines, and discover how the public perceives them. This year I checked out Iomega, a quiet little company in Roy, Utah, that you may have heard of.

Thanks to the Motley Fool's Iomega folder, I have access to tons of research and a board that is so current that, on day one of Comdex, in the the time it took me to park, run into the convention center to get the news, and to report back on-line, almost all of what I had found out about Iomega had already been posted AND digested in the Fool. What an incredible board!

The first thing that really struck me about Iomega at Comdex was its people. A couple of conversations managed to obliterate any doubts or questions I had about this company. Next, I wanted to get a grip on the tech end: comparisons of capacity, speed, performance, and so on. Stats, too: ship dates, quantities, inventories, etc. These were questions I thought I needed answered in order to be "a fully informed stockholder." When I realized that I was not going to unearth the Entire Secret of Iomega, or Life either, I stumbled onto the big picture. The Company. The Competitors. The role of the Motley Fool. And the importance of my Fool Cap.

The Company---Do you think Iomega is on the cutting edge of technology, with the biggest, fastest, bestest:)? NOT! "Cutting edge" isn't what the company's about. They simply want to put out a good, dependable, inexpensive storage solution that is EASY for the common techno-idiot like me to operate, and that more experienced users would also want. We common folk who make up the vast majority of PC owners will ultimately decide if there will be a new "storage standard." What I do know for certain are the things I see with my own eyes, and touch with my hands. The Big Picture? Demand and interest in Iomega is strong, the products are truly user-friendly, and they meet a need. All things considered the future and potential of the company look very good.

The Competition---My partner called me with a news flash about Compaq, 3M and Matsushita teaming up to make a new "standard in storage," the PD. My other partner from Chicago called me about SDD's (Super Density Disks that I checked at Comdex). He claimed "this was the future!" A third friend called to tell me of another "best thing since sliced bread:" Iomega's Jaz and Zip. The point is, if there's demand, and if you build to it, it will sell. Sure there's competition, and sure there are going to be newer, better products, but right now the best solutions are Iomega's. Will they become a standard? Only time will tell. The Big Picture? Zip is here now, and Jaz will be shortly. Even if the competition ramps up fast, the question is: will their products be as dependable, affordable and easy as Iomega's, and marketed as well? By the time the competition gets to where Iomega is now, where will Iomega be?

The Motley Fool---The MF Iomega folder is not only very quick and quantitative, it's also viewed by more Iomega employees than I'd ever imagined. How many? Well three people I talked to were very well versed on the happenings here, and two of them commented on Motley Fool posts that were being circulated *at* the company. With as much scrutiny as this board directs toward Iomega, it stands to reason that Iomega would look back at us. The Big Picture? The Fool's Iomega board has been, and will likely continue to be, the standard that others will be measured against, a credit to the vast majority of the posters, pro AND con. I make this statement with great humility, as I've been very critical of the board in the past. Things change, it's the nature of life in general.

My Foolcap---It's not a hat! It's more of a tool now, like a compass. I'll be coming up on one year of Folly in January, and what a year. I've bought, sold, won, lost, and on occasion have been quite confused. And for a simple guy like me to deal with CPU, IDE, SCSI, PD, RAM, ROM and the like---well the arcane technical stuff is just not my bag. And last week at Comdex, I truly overloaded on it. It was my Foolcap, though, that reminded me of what I was looking for: ease of use, a product that meets a need and has popular acceptance, and good people running good companies that make good solutions. The Big Picture? Iomega fits this model almost too well. I guess that's why they not only earned rave reviews on their presence, but also won awards for Best of Show in Accessories and Storage; two wins out of two possibles. (Nice parlay!)

Now that three of the world's largest media producers---Maxell, Sony, and Fuji---are going to be making or distributing Iomega disks, then I guess I'm not the only one who's big on the future of this company. And those who doubt that something large is happening remind me of the people I passed on my way out of a casino last week, people standing in line for quarters while a fire alarm wailed all around. Was the building ablaze? Could it be coming down around them? No one seemed to notice or care; they just wanted their quarters. If you fit this profile, maybe you're missing the forest for the trees, or a stock that's truly on fire. I've done it myself, but nowadays I try something Foolishly different. I get up and put on my Foolcap, go for a stroll, and look at the Big Picture.

Happy Holidays to all, and be Foolish,
Patrick M. Spilotro (BYTEUP)

[Editor's note: BYTEUP'S coverage of Iomega in Vegas is featured in "A Fool Reports from Comdex," the 11/13 Fribble.]