You may have noticed that SSD prices have taken a dive as of late, with OCZ the centre of attention as the trend-starter. High-end drives previously available at £1 per GB are now down to 50p per GB and, large-capacity drives, previously available at increasingly disproportionate prices have begun falling in-line with the trend.
It could be said that the SSD industry is in a boom right now, with prices lower than ever and performance at its highest. However, it's not looking this way for OCZ right now, as, following an announcement that the firm would make a "significant net loss" and post negative gross margins in its second fiscal quarter of 2013, investors began retreating at high speed, causing shares to drop by 40 per cent in under one hour, closing 46 per cent down by the end of the day.
OCZ's net losses are the result of customer-incentive programs, largely involving rebates in the US and the company's overall price-drop strategy. This alone wouldn't have been enough to shake confidence in the firm, however, OCZ is now late in reporting its financial figures, as it didn't account for these programs until after filing, potentially opening the firm up to liability.
Quick to seek a remedy, OCZ has now appointed a new CEO, Ralph Schmitt, replacing interim CEO, Alex Mei, following the resignation of previous CEO and founder, Ryan Petersen, back in September.
It'll be interesting to see exactly what knock-on effects these latest revelations will have on the SSD industry.
