re: "predatory pricing of the Celeron"
It's not predatory if you make money on it. It is clear that Intel has room to move on pricing, but they have an obligation to shareholders to make money. They have an obligation to make money long term, so they invest in the future (design, factories, process technology, brand equity, and growth of the computing/communications market .
The bottom line is pricing may move down a little quicker with competition, but Intel has demonstrated aggressive price moves, and/or performance increases even when AMD and others are not on their heels. The bottom line is AMD continues to attack despite their obvious incompetence. Intel will continue to maximize profits and future growth. The 4th quarter was a bit of an anomaly since demand outstripped supply... now that things are in balance, I expect Intel to take back share and increase margin dollars if not margin %. Intel is not loosing the highend PII, the PII Xeon, or the soon to be in the channel PIII... they are gaining in the low end segment, and I'm sure they are making $'s on every part they sell.
This should be a bullish indicator... looks like a buy opportunity to me. |
