I don't look at the ignoring of the Sub-1000 market as just a matter of the the point that Intel came back hard with a Celeron design which ultimately resulted in the move back to chip only PPGA solutions. Yes they came back and took back the market from a K6-3 which was not the competitor it should have been. I agree with your general facts.
What I am saying is that the damage to the brand was significant. If I recall correctly while Intel maintained its giant share of the markets profits, it lost a huge volume chunk to AMD. Most Intelers say that is nothing, the sold without profits. What I am saying is that you have many many new users with a AMD engine, if that is a postive experience they are more likely to buy another. After all this is the whole intent of the Intel Inside campaign. "So long as it is Intel Inside who cares what is says outside" Well what you have had was many many millions of users using and saying...."I have AMD inside, no problems" This hurts the brand, and the Intel Inside brand was (is) worth a lot. I call this a flub.
Next you have this tremedous volume of users looking to buy a new machine, as they advance and broadband hits. Now you have the K7 a very very good chip, the tendency to go with the AMD part is there. This I call a flub.
You have had all this focus on working on HWP on a chip, and the fruits are far delayed, while AMD has focused on the core business.
I think Intel used to be almost two generations ahead, I think they are now barely a generation ahead, and that generation is still being delayed. That huge lead that was blown by miss-exectution to task, well again I call that a flub.
Now you have a competitor out of the blue come up with a radical battery optimized software/hardware chip to focus on laptops. Not a niche of laptops but all laptops. A decent proccesor and fast harddrive, a nice screen, after that its all the same, battery life, battery life, and weight. Can this software/hardware have the required compatiblity, that is up for question, and that is a serious concern, but if it does, I say the how laptop market is at danger, people upgrade laptops like cell phones. I call this exposure to a CPU threat to the Laptop market, you guessed it a Flub.
Yes Intel is a Giant, and generally well run company, however, the are loosing speed in the technology race, and competitors are gaining, Intel is a great company, but from my vantage, the are flubbing it up and loosing speed. If the K7 can ramp in MHZ and continue I don't see too many users wanting for more than 800 MHZ
Until voice recognititon, but that is another story
cheers |
