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Samsung may sell hard drive business in wake of iPad

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Samsung may sell hard drive business in wake of iPad
Samsung may sell hard drive business in wake of iPad | Electronista
A source claimed Sunday night that Samsung was looking to sell off its hard drive business. The Korean company had set a target price of $1.5 billion but was eager enough to sell it for under $1 billion if it couldn't fetch the intended target. Seagate was the only named candidate from the Wall Street Journal's tip, but it wasn't clear how likely the US company was to land the deal.

Samsung had warned earlier this month that it would see profits shrink rapidly in its winter quarter results. Its hard drive segment was one of those at fault for the poorer results and has regularly been a money-losing aspect of the company's business. The source noted that staying in conventional rotating drives was "not strategic to succeed" and could be moved off without much penalty.

The losses have been partly blamed on Apple. Widely considered the largest consumer of flash memory in the world, the firm has been largely responsible for the shift away from mini hard drives to flash in media players and has also been affecting computers. The entirely flash-based iPad may have been single-handedly responsible for pushing a complete reorganization at Acer after its share began collapsing rapidly while trying to promote conventional netbooks, which for awhile had been sustaining interest in hard drives. Apple has also had some success driving all-flash storage in its own computers through the MacBook Air.

Consolidation has been increasingly common in the storage business as the companies who have struggled have been more willing to sell their businesses. Western Digital bought Hitachi's team in March, but companies like Fujitsu have also been casualties as they faced tougher competition from Seagate and Western Digital, the two dominant players in the field.

Neither Samsung nor Seagate has commented on the rumor.
 
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Don't blame Apple for your failing business...it's not their fault you can't change with the times.
 

bobtomay

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Wasn't aware WD had bought the Hitachi division. Are we down to just the 3 manufacturers now, Samsung, Seagate and WD?
 
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Well possibly just 2 if this sale goes through. WD and Seagate.
 
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Wasn't aware WD had bought the Hitachi division. Are we down to just the 3 manufacturers now, Samsung, Seagate and WD?

And it shows... Seagate= Maxtor and both of which are absolute crap. I'd not take a Seagate drive if you gave me one for free. WD on the other hand have managed to maintain really good QC over the past few years and now that Hitachi seem to be stable as well, having their drives in the WD roster seems a good idea.

Doug
 

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And it shows... Seagate= Maxtor and both of which are absolute crap. I'd not take a Seagate drive if you gave me one for free. WD on the other hand have managed to maintain really good QC over the past few years and now that Hitachi seem to be stable as well, having their drives in the WD roster seems a good idea.

Doug

It's funny you say that cause I feel the same way but with WD. >_>" I still have a working Maxtor HDD that I had for over 12 years.
 
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Maxtor used to be as good as WD all those years ago, but their QC has dropped considerably within that time frame you're stating. As for Seagate... they used to stand for quality, well above that of WD or Maxtor... but that too, was a different time. Wouldn't trust a Seagate drive with my data these days, no way.

I've never had a problem with WD. Can't say that about the other two. As for Hitachi, I still have a bit of the ol' "Deathstar" memories lingering, but they seem to be shaping up and getting rid of the old stigma attached to their name.

Doug
 

bobtomay

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It's funny you say that cause I feel the same way but with WD. >_>" I still have a working Maxtor HDD that I had for over 12 years.

Maxtor was making some very good drives up through maybe '04- '05 when their QC went downhill. By the time Seagate bought them out, it was time for someone to step in and do something.

WD has had just about the best customer service in this particular business for awhile now.

All the manufacturers have gone through their share of ups and downs over the years. Right now, it sure seems WD and Hitachi are at the top of the heap. WD wouldn't have to do much with that Hitachi division except to trim the fat and figure out why it's not making money. $1B sounds like a lot to pay for a company that's not showing a pretty good profit already though.

The Seagate purchase of Maxtor was/is a mystery to me unless they needed the production capability that bought them.
 
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WD lost my business for a while as in the late 90's pretty much every WD drive I had died in 2 years. I've had pretty good luck with Seagate since then. I do have a few WD my books now and their quality seems to have improved.

I have a Seagate 320 gb FireWire/USB from 2003 - and it is just now starting to die. I still have time to pull off the data.
 

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Wasn't aware WD had bought the Hitachi division. Are we down to just the 3 manufacturers now, Samsung, Seagate and WD?

Don't forget Fujitsu.

The real question is - who the heck would buy Samsung's hard drive business?
 
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cwa107


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Doorstops maybe? That's about all they're good for.
 

chscag

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Doorstops maybe? That's about all they're good for.

LOL. Seagate must be getting desperate. However, 1.3 Billion is serious money. I wonder how much of that was in stock options?
 

robduckyworth


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And it shows... Seagate= Maxtor and both of which are absolute crap. I'd not take a Seagate drive if you gave me one for free. WD on the other hand have managed to maintain really good QC over the past few years and now that Hitachi seem to be stable as well, having their drives in the WD roster seems a good idea.

Doug

LOL, some of my Seagate drives are the bomb, and have survived numerous bashings in the backpack, still running strong as ever. My hard drives of choice.

The only WD i have had is an external, where the PSU failed on the unit, so its in another case.
 
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Seagate gets to acquire Samsung's flash memory. This should be interesting as pretty soon there will be two giant hard drive companies. >.>
sidebar | the8thark is banned?? Whaaaaaa??

Thinkin' the same thing! MOTM -> Banned. :O
 
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Big fan of WD have 2 external drives that are very quite but time will tell ,my Lacie finally
died it was a little over 4yrs old the internal was Seagate Barracuda not to bad since it was for Time Machine just to noisy. Can't wait till everything is SS and the cost is affordable.
 

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