Iomega boss jumps ship after poor year

Jodie Glore, president and chief executive of troubled Zip drive manufacturer Iomega, has quit following a disappointing year for the company.

Despite a raft of problems, Glore insisted his decision to leave was made for personal reasons and not because he is taking another job.

"I expect to take my first vacation in three years and spend time with my family," he said.

The move came just days after the release of Iomega's ZipCD. The manufacturer had been badly hit by the emergence of recordable and rewriteable CD-ROM (CD-RW) technology, which analysts cite as the culprit for negative sales of its Jaz storage drives and disks.

Bob Peyton, storage analyst at IDC, said: "When CD-RW came out, sales of Zip drives went from 100 per cent growth to 15 per cent growth in a short space of time. CD-RW is very cheap and universally interchangeable.

When you compare the prices of Zip and Jaz, which are about $8 and $80 respectively, to a CD, which is about 50p, it's easy to see why this happened."

He predicted Glore's replacement will have to change Iomega's business model dramatically if it is to be successful. "Iomega will be competing with about 15 vendors, but it has a strong brand name and channel. If it can get a foothold in CD-RW then it should be successful. But it cannot control the media in this market, which means a change in strategy," Peyton said.