To All, Odd things in the store ads today. I don't know the answers, though lots of possibilities are raised. In all the ads in the local paper, Circuit City, Best Buy, Office Max, Office Depot, (CompUSA advertises on Saturdays and I missed it for some reason) the computers featured were all in the $699-999 range, with Cyrix, AMD or PII processors. This would not be unusual if PIII wasn't so new and Intel wasn't spending so much advertising it. I didn't see an ad for a PIII box or a Celeron box. I have no idea why this is so and can't remember a new product fading from the flyers that soon after introduction. Several possibilities come to mind:
1. PIII boxes are sold out. There were certainly plenty available on Friday, but I haven't checked since then.
2. Intel is having yield problems and has told the retailers to cool it for awhile.
3. The PIII boxes aren't selling, so why waste time advertising. I think sales are disappointing, but that is when you advertise.
4. Intel has reduced its "Intel Inside" kickback program. Again, I think this is possible sometime this quarter, but the timing would be questionable so soon after intro.
5. The channel is offering better incentives to move the heavy inventory of other boxes. A real possibility.
If anyone has any insights or other theories, I would like to hear them. I expect PIII to be a flop of MMX magnitude, but this is too soon to admit defeat, IMHO. So, I think something else is going on.
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