Paul, Yep! I've got sub-0's on the brain. Why?
I think it's just one indictor of a paradigm shift to true commodity products in the PC industry. And from very reputable sources, ie; Compaq, HP, etc. Note that according to Bus Week it's expected that both Compaq and HP will introduce sub-$800 PC's in the coming weeks. Perfect machines for browsing the web. And I don't think it's just newbees in the home PC market. I think the SOHO and biz markets are jumping on sub-0's. And why not? For most applications these are stellar performers. I have looked at a number of other products. PII 233's going for $1500 and coming down the curve. PII 300's for less than $2000. Heck, you can get an Intel 166mHz MMX with monitor and printer for less than $1000! (Sundays BESTBUY flyer).
This has to be a lot of pressure on PII margins. And worse, if Intel must keep providing P55's to meet maker demands, I think this will slow the conversion to PII, (or cut deeply into PII margins.)
So, as an Intel long, (I've also lost 30% of my Intel value, and it's got to go up 45% just to recover the losses), I'm very interested in what's happening with sub-0's, and all the other low margin products that the market seems to have shifted to. Technology is great, but it's only worth what the market perceives it to be. :-) |
