History (1990): 77% of WW FDDs Shipments Will Be for 3.5-Inch Disks in 1992

After taking the lead in floppy drive shipments for the first time in 1988 with 18.1 million drives, 3.5-inch microfloppy drives are expected to be up another 3 million drives in WW shipments in 1989.

The 1989 Disk/Trend Report on flexible disk drives ($1,220) forecast expects continuing growth in microfloppy drive shipments, with the total for 1992 projected at 31 million drives, 77% of that year’s WW total for all floppy drives.

Unit shipments for the WW floppy drive industry are expected to increase only 1.5% in 1989, held down by declining shipments for 5.25-inch and 8-inch drives, combined with a slower growth rate for personal computers, the largest market for floppy drives.

As the industry moves to smaller floppies with lower average prices, WW sales revenue for floppy drives is also projected to be down more than 8% in 1989, at $2.6 billion.

Here are other highlights from the 1989 Disk/Trend Report on flexible disk drives:

• More than 80% of 3.5-inch microfloppy drive shipments are now one-inch high models, which all major drive manufacturers have added to their product lines in the last few years. By 1992, over 99% of 3.5-inch floppy drive shipments are expected to be one inch high or less, including the new 0.75-inch high drives introduced in 1989.
• Shipments of 5.25-inch minifloppy drives peaked in 1988 with 16.5 million drives, and are expected to be down in 1989 by almost 15%. The decline of 5.25-inch floppy drives is expected to continue as microfloppies are chosen by system manufacturers for most new personal computer models, with 1992 WW shipments down to 8.2 million drives.
• Shipments of high-capacity floppy drives over 5MB are expected to decline by 6% in 1989, to 118,000 drives. Initial shipments of several new high capacity microfloppy drives have been delayed in 1989 by start-up problems, and most high-capacity floppies now being shipped are still 8-inch and 5.25-inch models. The report forecasts the start of volume shipments for high capacity microfloppies in 1990, initially mostly 20MB models, growing to 785,000 drives in 1992.
• Less than 4% of floppy drive sales revenues are now generated by U.S. floppy drive manufacturers. The 21 Japanese producers of floppy drives held 92% of the 1988 WW revenue total for all types of floppy drives.
• Sony continued to hold leadership in non-captive shipments of microfloppy drives in 1988, with 4.3 million drives, for 26.2% of the WW total. The WW non-captive lead in 5.25-inch drive shipments was held by Matsushita Communication Industrial with 18.1%, in 8-inch drives by Y-E Data with 54.1% and in high-capacity floppy drives over 5 MB by Iomega with 80.2%. The report counts WW 304 different flexible disk drives and 58 existing and former manufacturers of FDDs.

WW shipments of FDDs by all manufacturers

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠25, published on February 1990.