<What I'm trying to point out is that 40% of the PC market is sub $1000 computers.>
Intel stated in their conference call that the latest data showed that sub $1000 PC were 30% of the consumer retail channel.
Since the consumer segment is relatively small and the consumer retail segment is even smaller this can hardly be considered a major market segment. I can't speak in terms or worldwide numbers, put earlier in the year I posted an article which estimated that the US retail channel accounted for only 5% of the total worldwide PC market. About 1/3 of this 5% is now sub $1000 PC's.
If you look at the numbers properly you will quickly conclude that the sub $1000 PC sales are a relatively small percentage of total PC sales. Regardless, as Intel pointed out this is an important segment because it includes mostly first time buyers. They were also quick to point out that they provide the vast majority of CPU's and supporting chip sets that go into these systems and that they are focused on this segment (referred to as segment 0).
Finally, Intel stated twice in their CC that the fastest area of growth was not segment 0 but workstations, servers, and mobile PC's. That is why CPU ASP's did not change significantly in Q3. They said that historically CPU ASP's have remained in a very narrow range and that ASP's in Q3 were "comfortably" within this narrow range. In other words, given the mix of low end, high end, mobile, and all other CPU's, the average selling price for CPU's did not change significantly. So much for those who wish to believe that CPU pricing is hurting Intel. Flash memory pricing, on the other hand, did soften and was primarily responsible for the short fall in Q3.
I encourage everyone to listen to the CC. Personally, I think they were being intentionally vague and conservative with respect to Q4 revenue.
Good luck to all,
FF |
