Gary, Sales and revenues are the same thing. Calling unit sales sales is a malaprop. They know better, but any up number looks better than any down number.
The only study about PC prices in 1998 is from PC Data, for which I have nothing but second hand info. They estimated down 18%. I think they are low, but it is hard to be exact. I look at CompUSA, the largest retailer, and they say ASPs for pcs were down 20%. And they are mostly consumer pcs. Business box prices fell much more as there was almost no unit demand growth. The Dept. of Commerce #s aren't worth much other than the fact that they are "official." Too much guesstimate as to what impacted what.
The fact that all the major pc makers and every pc distributor and every pc VAR missed revenue numbers for the 4th quarter, the strong quarter, makes me think ASPs were deadly. I assume, and I don't think this is a bad assumption, that the big players gaining market share in unit sales had less ASP deterioration than the smaller players who lost market share.
No, the promotional money does not reduce ASP. It increases cost of sales. This is a way to whistle past the graveyard.
MB
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