CPQ out after Small Business' bucks..
Compaq cuts small-business PC prices
up to 7 pct
HOUSTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Compaq Computer Corp.
(NYSE:CPQ - news) said it cut prices up to 7 percent on a new
line of computers geared to small- and medium-sized business
users, making a preemptive strike against competing products from rival Dell Computer Corp.
(Nasdaq:DELL - news)
In a statement, Compaq, the world's No. 1 maker of personal computers, said the price cuts on its
Prosignia desktop personal computer line matches or beats similarly equipped systems from direct rival
Dell.
A Dell spokesman said he had not seen details of the price cuts and declined to comment until he could
make comparisons with his own company's products.
On Nov. 11, Compaq staked out new territory with its line of computers which it said it planned to
market directly to small businesses, as part of a major sales shift away from its traditional reliance on
its army of indirect distributors.
The company said the Prosignia desktop PCs continue to sell at least three times faster than the
company had originally forecasted internally, repeating a boast that Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer
made at a trade show last month.
A spokesman declined to quantify the actual number of shipments or revenues received from sales of
the new machines.
As examples, Compaq said it cut the price of its low-end Prosignia 310, which is equipped with an Intel
Celeron 300a computer chip and a minimal amount of computer memory, to $1,249, or 2 percent off its
previous price of $1,279.
Its mid-range Compaq Prosignia 330 with an Intel Pentium II 350 megahertz processor and a moderate
amount of computer memory, was reduced 7 percent to $1,629.
The price of a top-of-the-line Prosignia 330, with a speedy 450 megahertz Pentium II chip and
crammed with computer memory, was cut 5 percent to $1,999.
All of these systems include a 17-inch computer monitor.
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