IDC also predicts shortages of LCD screens and mobile disk drives...
John
IDC predicts shortages of notebook screens,
storage
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:51 PM PT, Sep 23, 1998
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- International Data Corp., a worldwide market research company, on
Wednesday predicted notebook LCD display and hard-disk shortages here at its PC Market Outlook
conference.
As corporate buyers begin to transition to Intel Pentium II technology in notebooks, LCD and hard-drive
suppliers will be unable to meet demand, according to Randal Giusto, an analyst at IDC.
"If you're one of the vendors who has not locked up panel supplies, [you] will have a big problem,"
Giusto said.
The limited supply of 13.3-inch and 14.1-inch displays is exacerbated by vendors' incorporation of
high-end features such as the latest processors and larger screens all across their product lines. While
the market is shifting to bigger screens, the panel manufacturers have not shifted production.
"There will be shortages the rest of this year and the first part of next year," Giusto predicted.
Those corporate users waiting for Microsoft's Windows NT 5.0 for notebooks will also have to wait. IDC
analysts predicted a ship date for the OS some time in the second half of 1999.
Most IT managers appear to be content to wait. Of the more than 250 IT buyers interviewed by IDC, the
vast majority indicated that they are in no rush to transition to NT 5.0.
"Corporate buyers will wait until the second or third service pack [of NT 5.0] ships before they adopt the
OS. So we are talking about corporate acceptance by the year 2001," Giusto said.
NT 5.0 Workstation will be the first version of NT to offer full Plug and Play and power management for
notebooks.
However, it isn't all bad news for IT managers buying notebooks over the next 12 months.
According to IDC, prices will continue to fall, with sub-$1,500 notebooks coming from major vendors in
the first half of next year.
Vendors will focus on coming up with a usable notebook product at the $1,299 price point.
"Up until now, those prices have been only for end-of-life products," Giusto said. |
