MB, it is somewhat remarkable that prior to this sudden surge, the major OEM's seemed like they would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into offering low-end systems shipping w/ 64Mb standard.
Now that we're starting to see more and more ads for lower-end boxes w/ 64Mb from the likes of CPQ, HWP, IBM the price suddenly takes a jump.
A bit of the old "chicken and egg" cliche, but how much is demand coming from some incremental increase in mem/box...
...and how much of it is DRAM suppliers getting OEM's, particularly those that sell the majority of low-end boxes through the retail channel, to commit to certain memory levels and then gouging their eyes out?
I do question whether non-U.S. DRAM cannot be sold for under $8 (the tariffs on certain foreign mfgrs. are just not that high), but for the sake of argument, if you assume this is the case and make some assumptions about cross-border intra-firm transfers...
...then hasn't the Commerce Department constructed a de facto oligopoly by which U.S. consumers will be forced to pay more for computer products by making it easier for cartel-like inventory withholding to occur?
Hasn't history shown that firms with protected home markets tend to gouge prices at home and make a charge for market share broad?
Again, quite ironic, since this is the very situation these laws were created to prevent; yet, in the end they have the potential to turn into U.S. computer purchasers into indirect subsidzers of a company whose strategy borders on what our own governement has called anti-competitive in other industries.
Alas, public policy in the U.S. continues to be a most private affair.
Good trading,
Tom |
