Seagate is reducing its 42K workforce by 7%, or 2,900, jobs. Seagate is attributing this reduction in force, or RIF, to a drop in hard drive prices and lower demand.
I suspected this would happen. While the rapid increase in hard drive capacities and price drops have been wonderful for end-users, they have not been good for manufacturers. HDD capacity increases have simply outpaced end-user needs. Most end-users and corporations simply don't need 250 GB hard drives. Most end-users don't use their HDD's to record video, download (illegal) MP3's or movies, or edit video. At minimum, HDD manufacturers will need to wait for corresponding price drops in digital camcorders. In addition, more integration of video editing hardware and software is required.
An average user with a Windows XP installation and a dial-up connection doesn't use more than 50 GB of space, if that much. I think we are going to have consolidation occur in the HDD industry again. Similar to what happened in the 90's, a HDD manuf. will either go bankrupt or merge with another manuf.
I suspected this would happen. While the rapid increase in hard drive capacities and price drops have been wonderful for end-users, they have not been good for manufacturers. HDD capacity increases have simply outpaced end-user needs. Most end-users and corporations simply don't need 250 GB hard drives. Most end-users don't use their HDD's to record video, download (illegal) MP3's or movies, or edit video. At minimum, HDD manufacturers will need to wait for corresponding price drops in digital camcorders. In addition, more integration of video editing hardware and software is required.
An average user with a Windows XP installation and a dial-up connection doesn't use more than 50 GB of space, if that much. I think we are going to have consolidation occur in the HDD industry again. Similar to what happened in the 90's, a HDD manuf. will either go bankrupt or merge with another manuf.
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