re Toshiba and Notebook makers:
(from Austin American-Statesman, April 20, page C6)
by-line credit to Ronald Campbell, Orange County Register
sorry gang: this is an extensive article, and I couldn't find a link.
Describes Toshiba's woes in 1997, excerpts follow:
... Dataquest's Mcguire said toshiba shipped 20 percent of all
U.S. mobile computers in 1997, down from 23 percent in 1996.
International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass., came to a similar
conclusion: Toshiba dropped from 24.2 percent in 1996 to 20.4 percent
while rivals IBM and Compaq each captured about 13 percent. ...
Determined to pay closer attention to customers, Toshiba also is
preparing to embrace "build-to-order" manufacturing. This second part
of Toshiba's strategy comes straight from competitors Dell Computer
and Gateway 2000. ...
Imagine a banquet chef becoming a short-order cook, and you'll get a
good idea of the challenge Toshiba faces. ...
As for notebooks, the company is depending on superior engineering to
keep it a step ahead of the competition. Although many of the
components inside a typical notebook are commodities, Friederichs
said, the notebook itself is not. It takes considerable engineering
to cram a 6-gigabyte hard drive and a three-hour battery into a
6-pound package. ...
Top notebook makers
United States World
Company / 1997 market share
Toshiba 20.4 19.6
IBM 13.1 11.8
Compaq 13 10.4
Acer 8.4 6.4
Pkrd Bell-NEC 4.5
Fujitsu 6.6
<End of article>
Also: Notebook prices catching up with Desktops. Note references to DELL offerings towards end. Maybe we'll see DELL's name in the list above next year. ...
latimes.com;
Regards, 3. |
