<The "Intel Inside" program was an attempt to associate brand name recognition with the CPU, rather than the OEM. This made it difficult for higher margin OEM's like Compaq to compete in the retail market. The result was that Intel pushed Compaq into the Cyrix and AMD camps.>
As I recall, the only thing that drove Compaq into the Cyrix and AMD camps was price, pure and simple. Compaq wanted to make a name for itself, with or without Intel, and one way was to start dropping the prices of all its models and create a new sub-$1000 computer market. Intel wasn't ready to go along, so Compaq decided to call AMD.
<I suspect that Intel's management has had some second thoughts about the wisdom of the strategy.>
Yeah, try telling that to the management who is still going gung-ho with Intel Inside ads, including that Homer Simpson one.
The "Intel Inside" campaign by itself didn't push Compaq into the Cyrix and AMD camps. It was the prices that Intel charged hoping that brand-name recognition will win out over price considerations. Of course, nowadays Intel is singing a different tune, especially with those low-priced Celerons, but the "Intel Inside" campaign is still strong.
I fail to see how this relates to AMD, however. What Maxwell was saying was analogous to the ABM (Anything But Microsoft) movement that is taking place right now, where people will be willing to rebel against Microsoft even if it's tougher to go that direction.
As far as I know, Intel didn't shaft anyone. (I know I'm going to pay for that statement in a pool of AMD sharks.) They merely missed the boat. This by itself doesn't amount to retaliation by Intel's customers, but rather a sign of increased competition.
Tenchusatsu |
