To ALL: Interesting article...MMX strong out of the gates.
MMX Systems Off To A Strong Start
(01/20/97; 9:30 a.m. EST)
By Mark Harrington, Computer Retail Week
Las Vegas -- With MMX systems off to a strong start, Intel may face shortages of its new Pentium, even as vendors at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show voiced concerns about the difficulties they foresee in demonstrating MMX benefits to consumers in stores.
Numerous retailers at CES reported that days after the launch, MMX had gotten off to a brisk start, lending hope that a level of pent-up demand for the processor could start the year off right.
"It's doing very well," said Jim Halpin, chief executive officer of CompUSA, two days after the Jan. 8 MMX launch.
One executive from a PC vendor said brisk sell-through of MMX could pose problems because "Intel can't ship enough MMX chips." The executive conjectured that Intel's decision to soft-peddle the launch of MMX until later this month was in part due to a shortage of the chips.
An Intel spokeswoman, however, denied any shortage. "We're still on track on to provide what's needed," she said. "To our knowledge there's no shortage."
Nevertheless, there was wide expectation among PC vendors here that Intel would do most of the market development work that many said will be required for MMX to be successfully launched.
IBM, which refreshed its Aptiva line with two MMX processor-equipped units shown at CES, noted some challenges lie ahead, especially in explaining the benefits of MMX to customers.
Elaine Lack, director of marketing, operations and services for IBM's consumer desktop systems, said while IBM views MMX as a great incentive to attract new customers, the company also recognizes its challenges, particularly in marketing.
When asked how IBM expects retail sales associates to clearly, quickly and convincingly demonstrate how MMX is better than non-MMX units at similar clock speeds, Lack said, "We as an industry are faced with that, and Intel is faced with that." She added, "We're counting on a lot of help from Intel to communicate that message to the market."
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Regards, Michael |
