aburner, Re: "I've thought about this and I can't come up with anything other than something vague along the line of keeping AMD (and TMTA, VIA) in the dark for competitive reasons. Please let me know what you think Intel's reasons are."
Think about it... when Intel controls this information, it gives them power over the analysts. When the analysts don't know something, they guess. More often then not, they are off by a little, which means one of two things: either they are too conservative, or too optimistic. In the case of the former, Intel can give them a gentle nudge, telling them that they've aimed too low. If it's the latter, Intel can say nothing, and let them think that Intel has more market share than they really do. It's all about spinning the truth, which is what any business will do, if they are able. In court, you have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In business you have to tell the truth, but how much of the truth you tell can be quite subjective.
Re: "Various reports I (and most likely you too) have read over the last few weeks state that PC sales have declined in Q3. CPU upgrades and additional CPUs sold in multiprocessing systems (Intel has a serious advantage here of course) probably made up for that so that the market for CPUs (not PCs) possibly grew in Q3 over Q2 but not by much. That's why I believe the 1.1M units you calculated is probably a very good estimate and close to actual numbers."
In Intel's mid-quarter CC, they said that the months of July and August sold well above expectations. They were supposed to sell lower due to the economy, but in actuality, Intel said that they were on target with numbers from previous years. September was the wild card, due to the attacks, but as Intel showed recently, the U.S. was hurt the most during this, while sales in Europe were actually up. Additionally, Intel continues to set volume records in PRC, India, and Latin America. There are many growth markets besides the U.S., but the U.S. and other 1st/2nd world countries are where the market reports concentrate on. You need to consider the broader world, and not believe everything you read. I think the old reports of lower sales in Q3 were wrong, and Intel ended up selling much better than they thought.
wanna_bmw |
