Comdex battle..................
Comdex pits consumer electronics firms against PC
makers
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The computer industry is
set to converge on Las Vegas for its biggest yearly trade show
next week -- but its real destination is the living room.
As more than 200,000 computer industry executives, geeks
and consumers arrive in the gambling mecca, the Comdex trade
show is aimed at corporate computer users, but consumer
electronics firms are becoming an even bigger presence.
"You will see a battle for the hearts and minds of the
consumer," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies
Inc., a consulting firm in San Jose, Calif.
While software titan Microsoft Corp. spars with
the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission
investigates the business practices of chip giant Intel Corp.
, the computer industry is also under attack by the
consumer electronics makers, who want a piece of the action.
Next week's Comdex show will feature PCs at all ends of the
price spectrum -- the much-talked about sub-$1,000 PCs,
low-cost Internet access devices such as WebTV, and, on the
high end, the converged PC/TV, melding PCs and a TV as consumer
electronics companies try to hold onto the living room as their
territory.
Companies like TV and VCR maker Philips Electronics NV
will demonstrate its just-launched DVX8000 Multimedia
Home Theater, which combines video, audio and PC capabilties in
a home entertainment system for $5,000, with a big screen.
Compaq Computer Corp., the world's largest PC maker,
will show a new version of its PC Theatre, a PC/TV with a
DVD-ROM drive, which can play digital video disks. Compaq has a
partnership with France's Thomson SA and its RCA
brand for the PC Theatre. The new system will be priced at
$5,299.
Gateway 2000 Inc., which pioneered the converged
PC/TV, will also show a new DMC Destination computer with a DVD
player.
Microsoft's WebTV Networks, which develops a low-cost
consumer Internet access device via TV, will be demonstrating
its new WebTV Plus. RCA will also be showing its new rival
system, and analysts said they expect additional competitors in
the area.
"There will be a lot of appliances like WebTV and its ilk,"
Lou Mazzucchelli, a Gerard Klauer & Mattison analyst said. "And
Windows CE 2.0 will start to rear its head," he added,
referring to Microsoft's next version of its operating system
for handheld, portable computing devices.
As the PC continues to morph into a wide range of devices,
attendees will also see the hot "sub-$1,000" PCs, which started
out as a consumer device and are expected to make inroads into
the corporate market.
Compaq is one of the PC makers to make a profit in this
area since introducing a Presario for the home at $999 this
summer with a lower-cost processor developed by Cyrix Corp.
International Business Machines Corp. will be
demonstrating its new Aptivas, which will sell for less than
1,000, without a monitor. IBM unveiled its new Aptivas last
week.
"We think 40 percent of all retail will be sub-$1,000
systems (in the fourth quarter)," Creative Strategies' Bajarin
said. "One of the bigger buzzes will be from companies jumping
into the area." [Note -- SoftDVD won't run on these systems, which account for 40% of all NEW retail systems sold. BillyG]
Analysts said these systems are also moving into the
corporate world and said the systems could also compete with
some of the other efforts to lower computing costs, such as the
NetPC effort by Microsoft and Intel.
"There is some belief that they (Compaq) could easily swing
across to offering such units to the commercial market," said
Roger Kay, senior analyst at International Data Corp. in
Framingham, Mass. Even though some corporations may not want to
buy a PC that runs on older Pentium chips, "users are going to
start dragging people into this area," Kay said.
Last month, Digital introduced the Digital PC 3010 aimed at
the business market, in two configurations, with either a
166-megahertz K6 processor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
for $899 or a system with an Intel 166-megahertz
Pentium priced at $969.
The move to even lower-cost PCs also represents a challenge
for Intel, analysts said, because it is behind in addressing
this burgeoning market with a specific chip.
"I expect some very interesting things out of Intel," said
Kimball Brown, a Dataquest Inc. analyst. "(Intel Chairman) Andy
(Grove) said the bifurcation of the PC is upon us."
Indeed, as the PC splits into more differentiated pricing,
the products at the costlier end of the spectrum are offering
more features and shapes.
Several analysts highlighted a new ultra-thin notebook
computer, to be demonstrated by Mitsubishi Electronics, that
costs $6,000 and weighs just three pounds. The notebook, called
the Pedion, was introduced this week and is less than one inch
thick.
"I am an expert in portables and I gasped," Bajarin said. |
