the difference with Imation

in terms of branding is that an SSD and a traditional platter-based disk are still effectively the same thing: mass storage.

I doubt consumers would make the distinction between the two types when it comes to picking a brand. In fact, I also doubt most professionals would make the distinction, since many of them have already made a choice (pick any HDD article on El Reg & read the vitriol).

Still, I think an own fab would be a massive gamble for Seagate - why not source from someone else to begin with and then pick up an own fab if it takes off. Somewhat higher cost, somewhat lower risk.

Flash is the new Bluray

If I had £250m I'd definitely build a foundry. If they get a move on and get prices down then I won't need to buy a Bluray player.

While prices are high there is no need for their own fab

I don’t think Seagate would get much of a competitive advantage by having their own foundries at the moment as solid state drives (SSD) are still premium devices at low volumes with premium prices, so there is more margin to work with and less volume to be profitable. In the next few years SSDs will add very little to their bottom line, so why take the risk.

Get a good OEM deal for decent volumes.

Build your own controller to maximise data transfers and life of the drives.

Keep up with the changes in technology.

Then move in when it settles down a bit and is more cost effective and the volumes have risen to a point where you can really make some money.

Is there a market for SSD?

Oh gilly gosh yes. but, you have to get the price, performance and size right.

If the numbers add up people will pay a little over the price of HD to move to SSD.

The erase write cycles, can be accommodated, and they are not small, it is something to realise and solve but it is not a deal breaker in anyway.

In fact it would be rather nice to know when to buy a new drive both as a consumer and as a seller, and at failure the drive could simply just not erase.