"I think you'll see capacity in these small form factors continue to increase. We're launching perpendicular. We're going to start bringing perpendicular recording theories to the small form factor. So I believe in the next …you're going to see 12, 15 gigabyte one inch drives out there in the market. I mean, I think you'll see 20, 30 gigabytes as we continue to progress the technology." And in simple terms, what does the perpendicular technology mean that's different? "What perpendicular does is allow us to store more information in the same square inch. It's a different way of recording. And it's no more simple than lining up things vertically instead of horizontally as you store domains. The net of it is…it allows us to increase capacity per disc platter."
Seagate is in the process of buying its rival, Maxtor, for nearly 2 billion dollars. Watkins says the move will help it compete against rivals such as Samsung and Hitachi which are part of bigger conglomerates…
"If we look at the Maxtor acquisition…it's about really adding scale to the company and leveraging this scale through our operating platforms."
Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.