Dismal stuff from JPA's editorial... a couple of bad
quarters ahead for all.... they should put tariffs on
intel chips! Sid
.....
The upside of this, if there is any, is that there is a Permedia 3
coming down the pipe, as well as a Riva TNT, and a
Savage3D. Maybe these products can command a premium,
but the arteries of the industry are getting clogged with cheap
products, and there seems to be no end in sight. Intel's impact,
as a whole, has been disappointing on the industry. The
Intel740 was late, and didn't live up to the expectations put
upon it. It has gone on a downward pricing spiral since
release, without contributing much to the well-being of the
graphics ecosystem. So, while companies like Nvidia and
3Dlabs would have, under different circumstances, been in a
position to maintain some premium on their products, it
seems that only 3Dfx can manage to do that right now. They
haven't been forced into a volume business, and it will be
interesting to see how they cope once Banshee makes the
rounds. It too will have to make it to Taiwan at some point.
The best sign that the industry can hope for is that a company
like S3 can show some success in the second half of this year.
A strong S3 would signal a favorable return to the status quo
of the industry. That might seem strange, but the scorched
earth policies of Intel are not doing anyone any favors, least of
all Intel.
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