One Year Ago: Hitachi sees DVD-ROM sales rocketing

Japanese giant Hitachi said today it expects widespread uptake of DVD-ROM drives in the next few months.

"We expect most high-end machines will offer DVD-ROM instead of CD-ROM drives in the third quarter and we're talking to the big players," said a spokesman for the firm today.

Separately, the firm said that it will end production of eight-speed CD-ROM drives this week. "We're down to our last 1,000 eight-speed devices and will finish manufacturing at the end of this week," said the spokesman. Most manufacturers are moving to 16-speed and faster drives, he added.

IDC's most recent market research for CD-ROM drive sales places Hitachi alongside Panasonic, both on 14 per cent, but well behind Mitsumi (24 per cent).