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Jack,
I agree with your conclusions. The 3rd qtr will be loaded with sales to students and their parents. The 4th quarter will be loaded with sales to those buying the first family computer to connect to the net, play a few games and do a little word processing.
What I hope is that these sales, the ones to students and first time buyers at Christmas, are 'new sales'. In other words sales that CPQ would not have had previously. I also hope that the higher end sales continue to be buoyed up by business and those with a few more bucks who want machines with a bit more power.
I guess the real question is, will the low end machines rob market share from the higher end line, reducing profits, or will they in fact generate new business. I've been in a couple of stores and talked to several sales people and the store manager at the local Computer City. For the most part, according to the store manager, the low end Compaq computer is being purchased by the first time family buyer. Right now, the Christmas sales are really beginning to pick up according to him. He said, for the most part, mid and expensive computers continue to be purchased by those in business and those who want to upgrade. Also those with a few more bucks will generally buy a mid line versus a low end machine. He also said that his sales in the mid and high end Compaq machines have grown at about 35% year to date. The low end Compaq can't be kept on the shelf. He had no sales comparison information.
To me, this seemed like excellent news. -Keith- |
