Chung - RE: "I am shocked by the PC data, I have been under the impression that AMD is showing up everywhere, I have read from posts here that more and more visible SKUs in retail channels and alot more in screwdriver shops, I did a casual survey at Best Buy, Circuit City and found thread posters were correct. What gives?"
One thing to look at is the top selling PCs News.com reported from PC Data. Here is the list from 1 - 7:
500MHz K6-2 $586
533MHz K6-2 $780
500MHz Celeron $570
533MHz Celeron $643
533MHz K6-2 $868
600MHz PIII $1241
650MHz PIII $1476
While everyone has been reporting that retail stores are advertising high MHz Athlons >750Mhz we haven't looked at the prices and compared them to PIII systems, even if the PIII systems are lower MHz. At Pricewatch, a 700MHz Athlon costs less than a PIII 600 and a 750MHz Athlon costs as much as a 650MHz PIII. But is this reflected in retail stores? Based on the prices at Circuitcity.com, the answer is NO. What is the point of Athlons costing less than PIIIs if it isn't reflected in the market? The retali OEMs are probably basing the price of the systems on MHz, not on cost to them.
So while MHz sells (TM McMannis), price is still important. The Athlon OWNS the high end, but based on the the top 7 selling systems in retail, the low and mid range of the PC market is the largest market, as it has been a LONG time...
AMD has nothing to represent itself in the mid range and will continue to have nothing until Spitfire comes out. But to be able to make Spitfire systems cost attractive, OEMs need a chipset with integrated graphics to keep costs down. That probably won't come until Q3, but hopefully in time for back to school season. When Spitfire initially comes out, I will be surprised if systems are priced to compete with Celeron of the same MHz because Celeron already has the i810 chipset. If they do compete price wise we will know AMD is giving OEMs BIG discounts. |
