Barry - Re: "Intel confirmed that they do NOT think that cheap pc's are expanding the market. Is this true? Can you fill us in?"
My notes on this exact subject had Paul Otellini make the following statement:
"There is no conclusive evidence thet the sub $1,000 PCs are expanding the market (for PCs) in the U.S."
This comment was made while discussing a bar graph of first time buyers' "spending habits" on PCs. Since I can't do graphics, I'll try to describe the chart.
Along the horizontal axis, the cost of a PC was plotted for 6 price brackets: <$1,2000 ; $1,200 - $1,400; $1,500 - $1,900; $2,000 - $2,400; $2,500 - $2,9000 ; > $3000
Above these 6 catgories, along the Y axis, was the per cent of PC sales in each price bracket(a vertical BAR) corresponding to the fraction of PCs sold in that price bracket to purchasers who were buying their FIRST system.
The results showed (Intel's own study) that of all systems sold for less that $1,200, 35% were bought by first time buyers (and, of course, 75% were bought by people who already owned one PC or more.}
I'll list all data points - you can re-plot them:
System Cost.............% of systems bought by first time buyers
<$1,2000............. 35%
$1,200 - $1,400........37%
$1,500 - $1,900........43%
$2,000 - $2,400.........41%
$2,500 - $2,9000........40%
> $3000.................32%
Intel/Otellini's conclusion was that first-time buyers GRAVITATE toward the MIDDLE of the PC price spectrum : $1,500 - $2,400 and DO NOT NECESSARILY BUY AT THE LOW END (<$1,200).
Paul |
