"We are selling a phenomenal number of hard drives into this digital video recorder space," Watkins told journalists the day after Seagate reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts' estimates and sent the stock up 4 percent on Thursday. "It's all going to be about the TV" in the next 12 to 18 months. Seagate is boosting sales of disk drives for digital cameras, portable music players and televisions to expand beyond desktop and notebook computers, its main markets. Consumer electronics accounted for 13 percent of revenue in its fiscal year ended in June, 2005, up from less than 5 percent in 2004.

"We have to morph ourselves into that consumer space," Watkins said, referring to computer hardware companies including Seagate, Intel the largest chip maker, and Dell the No. 1 personal computer maker, among others.

Shares of Seagate close up 99 cents, at $25.59 on the New York Stock Exchange and in the last 12 months have surged 39 percent. The company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, but it has its headquarters in the USA.

Intel is promoting computer systems based on its Viiv chip technology to gain a hold on the digital home. At the annual Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas earlier this month, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini unveiled partnerships with media and Internet companies including Google,Time Warner, AOL unit and DirecTV Group.

Watkins said that in the long run, Seagate plans to sell disk drives for an even greater variety of consumer devices as homes become increasingly connected, with computers in different rooms communicating with each other and with television set-top boxes and music players.

Also, ultra-clear high-definition televisions, or HDTVs, will "drive a whole lot more storage" demand, Watkins said, likely pushing up sales of Seagate hard drives.

Beyond the home, the next frontier for Seagate is the automobile, Watkins said. "The car people want to put an entertainment system in your back seat," Watkins said. Like the home, the question in the automobile business is who controls the access to music and videos, he added. Car makers want to ensure they have control over delivering entertainment content and may lower prices on equipment in return for subscriptions, he said.

In the home, subscriber-based entertainment systems that are "subsidized" by cable or phone companies in exchange for monthly payments are likely to win out over off-the-shelf devices that cost more up-front, Watkins said.

Seagate faces competition from makers of so-called flash drives, relatively inexpensive memory devices used in mobile phones, digital cameras and portable music players. But flash technology may boost demand for hard disk drives as people seek ways to back up songs and pictures they've downloaded onto flash devices, he said. "The more mobility we have with content, the more it will drive backup storage," Watkins said. "Backup storage will become a big deal for us."