Fred and others, re: Intel branded PC's
It appears that my position is a majority of one <g>. I will give one more argument and then go away on this issue, as I don't expect it to influence Intel in the near future, but is something to think about over the longer term.
First, as this industry matures, it is going to change 100% many times. The PC's two years from now will probably have flat LCD type screens, be TV's, use voice recognition, God knows what functions. I don't think anyone can visualize what a PC will be 4 years from now. I'm just making the point that what is true for the PC market today WILL change completely over the next 5 to 10 years. The last 5 to 10 years in the PC business are just a few seconds of time compared to where this industry will ultimatly go in product and marketing, change is the only thing assured.
From an article in today's WSJ about PC sales growth: "In addition, both research firms reported that the top four PC suppliers - Compaq, IBM, HP and Dell control nearly 38% of the computer market, up from 34% a year ago. The big vendors are getting bigger, said Scott Miller of Dataquest". Later in the article: "Analysts said the consolidation is very likely to accelerate, portending a major shift of strategic power in high technology. One result could be that the top PC makers will gain leverage with the industries two key suppliers, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. on such issues as technology direction and pricing." <honest, I didn't write the article>
As this consolidation takes place, as with all NEW product categories, a few leaders will emerge and THEY will have the branding power. It's the way things have always worked, to assume that a component manufacturer will command more brand loyalty than a finished goods manufacturer over a long period of time is an error. RIGHT NOW Intel Inside is the brand, that doesn't mean that it always will be.
To address some of your points:
<As for a true and tested component vendor example, I believe Briggs and Straton was previously provided.>
I still believe that John Deere or Snapper have more consumer brand equity in the lawn mower marketplace than the component maker Briggs and Stratton, although it's the best example anyone could come up with.
<Now, I ask you for an example of any component vendor that has ever waged a multi hundred million dollar TV advertising campaign to build name/brand recognition. That is why Intel is unique as a component vendors and that is why I think their name will continue to command a premium.>
The best example I can come up with is Nutrasweet (obviously an ingrediante rather than a component). They spent millions on advertising and even had their logo on the boxes of products that used their stuff, almost an identical marketing program to "Intel Inside". It worked very well for a quite a while, but you don't see that logo anymore. Companies were forced to use Nutrasweet because it commanded brand loyalty, eventually the finished goods makers won the consumer back.
I'm not a lawyer, so really don't know about antitrust issues. I just suspect it wouldn't be an issue.
Intel I believe is one of the best investments anyone can make, but I believe they will have strategic marketing challenges in the future.
Now, lets get back to more current issues and again agree to disagree.
John
|
