Gary:
My reference was to an "out-the-door" retail sale. That is, the total price paid by a retail consumer as he/she exits the store. I thought it was clear, but perhaps not.
I totally agree that the retailer is giving away peripherals (and margin) to get the sale,....that is the point.
Note my reference to PC producers is plural, and not Dell specific. I was endeavouring to point out why the actual "PC" ASP as reported by PC producers has not fallen as quickly as it might have if the ASP reporting did not include higher level products.
Nobody can quantify at this stage, but it doesn't take rocket science to project serious problems when,...
- the retail channel has more product in it than last year coming out of year-end.
- Corporate sales are in free-fall, and there are no reasons on the horizon for this state of affairs to change.
- Stores are quiet. They were last year at this time as well, but it is marginally worse now. The belief that the market is saturated is much more prevalent.
- Used PC sales are rising, and prices are completely in the tank. There is a ton of used PC product available, and prices of same are approaching giveaway levels. It just adds to the pressure.
- Intel's micros are selling below INTC's latest price cuts in the spot market. I made note of the fact that I thought Intel had bagged the spot market players last year to boost their year-end revs, and this evidence suggests that I was accurate. This doesn't suggest that demand is strong. (g)
Best, Earliei |
