Konrad, and ALL, Article...Summary of pricing stategy...
news.com
Classic Pentiums take low end
By Brooke Crothers and Jim Davis
January 30, 1997, 11:30 a.m. PT
Intel (INTC) Pentium price cuts will move many systems with "classic" Pentiums to prices below $1,500 and establish a price gap between classic Pentium PCs and MMX Pentium PCs of roughly $400 at the high end.
Today's Intel price cuts were as steep as 35 percent for classic, non-MMX Pentiums, while MMX Pentium prices remain relatively high. This means that systems using the classic 166-MHz Pentium will sink precipitously in price in the coming months while 200-MHz MMX systems will rest comfortably at the high end.
Currently, classic 166-MHz systems from top-tier vendors are priced in the $1,500 to $1,800 price range. But Intel's price cuts will accelerate a trend, which began at the end of last year, toward the $1,000 mark for some systems, according to Dean McCarron, a principal at Scottsdale, Arizona-based Mercury Research, a marketing-research firm.
"They're moving the [classic, non-MMX] 166 Pentium to the really high-volume market. They're setting this up as the new low-end processor," said McCarron.
The 166-MHz Pentium received one of the biggest reductions, to $295 from $402. The classic 133-MHz Pentium received the most dramatic cut, from $204 to $134.
Meanwhile, at the high end, the price gap between the classic 200-MHz Pentium PC and 200-MHz MMX PCs is generally between $350 and $400. For example, a fully-configured IBM Aptiva with the MMX processor is about $2,500, while the Aptiva without MMX is about $2150.
The MMX version of the 166-MHz processor got a relatively mild price reduction from $407 to $356. A version of the low-powered 166-MHz MMX Pentium for notebook computers was $550 but is now $539. A 133-MHz Pentium for notebook computers was priced at $244 but now costs $174.
A 200-MHz Pentium with MMX was $550; it will now cost $539. A 166-MHz MMX for mobile computers was priced at $550 and is now $539.
Those purchasing systems can expect these price reductions to translate into PC price reductions in as little as two weeks or as much as two months depending on the PC vendor, said McCarron. Gateway 2000, for one, might be able to roll the new chip pricing into system pricing in less than a month, McCarron said.
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Regards, Michael |
