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IBM Bails Out of the Hard Drive Market

Posted by timothy on from the spinning-down dept.

DJ STORM writes: "IBM has decided to exit the hard drive market citing the market has become too competitive.They plan to sell 70% of the their HD business to Hitachi. The new company name is unknown. One has to wonder if this has anything to do with IBM's troubled Deskstar GXP series." IBM will still have part ownership of the resulting venture, but it sounds like no more Deskstars. Update: 04/17 16:33 GMT by T : You may also find interesting some older posts about IBM's work on increasing hard drive storage (1, 2, 3); hopefully, the new company will continue that R&D effort.

8 of 344 comments (clear)

  1. Not quite out... by zodar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, IBM is going to stay in the hard drive market, but only for 330 hours per month.

    1. Re:Not quite out... by AntiNorm · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, IBM is going to stay in the hard drive market, but only for 330 hours per month.

      Kind of like how /. editors only hate the MPAA for 330 hours per month?

      --

      I pledge allegiance to the flag...
      of the Corporate States of America...
  2. And so the empire... by Cryogenes · · Score: 1, Funny

    loses another death star.

  3. Re:They were the real competitors by John+Harrison · · Score: 3, Funny
    bigger/better/faster/smaller

    If we edit out the "better/faster/" we get "bigger/smaller" hard drives. I do know what you mean, but I just think there must be a better way of saying, "My new IBM hard drive is bigger than my old drive. It is also smaller than my old drive."

    Now if I could just get a faster/slower car.

    --
    Lasers Controlled Games!
  4. Show Me the Drives by idonotexist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Some where, IBM must have truckloads of harddrives waiting at a shipping dock clearly labelled with the big blue logo. Certainly Hitachi wont touch them with such tarnishment --- they must be sold at discount close-out prices! So, where are these bad buys going up for auction? ;)

    --
    "There ought to be limits to freedom"
  5. Maybe they could call the company by cca93014 · · Score: 5, Funny

    IBM|Hitaclick click click grrrrrrrrrrApr 17 11:15:12 ben kernel: hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
    Apr 17 11:15:12 ben kernel: hdb: dma_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=11288143, sector=11288080

    --

    Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting

  6. Re:deskstar? I doubt it by perky · · Score: 5, Funny

    At what point do you say "we're making...$.50 per drive we sell. Let's give up." ?

    The point at which you are making 50 cents per drive? ;-)

    --
    "The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
  7. The real problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The real problem that is causing IBM to move away from the hard drive business is their own choice in model names.

    IBM DYKA

    It's like being taunted by maxtor users every time you boot. Berating customers is no way to compete.