On the other hand, build to order could help indifferent customers
get loaded up with lots of doodads and gadgets they don't really
need and wouldn't have paid extra for. I'm suspicious of this,
though. I think the PC market is too competitive for much of the
latter.
New owner of CPQ stock and also a new owner of a PC. Dell, sorry. My perception of the PC market before I bought my PC was that Compaq was of higher quality but much more expensive. Research since then has shown that this isn't necessarily true, but that's why I went with the Dell, and I bought the machine before buying the CPQ stock :-).
In regards to your comment though, when I was buying my PC (mid-May), I had a budget and I decided to get a 233 MHz P-II. Then I thought about it and estimated how long it would take before that chip was obsolete and talked myself into spending more $$ to upgrade to 64MB RAM and a 300 MHz P-II. I also added the "extra deluxe sound" which was just because I figured what the heck, 50 bucks more when I'm spending $2500 and already over my budget anyway, at least I can enjoy sound if I ever have time to play games.
I may not be typical PC buyer, but I think that it will be much easier to sell extra "doodads" and add-ons, and there won't be as many people stripping off the high-margin items to meet a budget. It's like buying a car. If you can afford the sunroof, you get it. You don't need it, but it's hard to say no if it's cheap enough... just an extra $15/month in car payments...
-Mike (who doesn't have a sunroof) |
