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Technology Stocks : IDTI - an IC Play on Growth Markets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LONE EAGLE who wrote (4950)	11/26/1997 4:24:00 PM
From: Hippieslayer	Respond to of 11555

Excellente, which means excellent for those who don't speak spanish. Here's an article that shows just how big and powerful the 1000 pc market has become. RIP Toshiba. Maybe had they looked to the C6, they'd still be selling desktops? Toshiba quits desktop consumer PC market By Brooke Crothers NEWS.COM November 25, 1997, 8:50 p.m. PT URL: news.com Toshiba will phase out its Infinia desktop consumer PC line, the latest sign that sub-$1,000 PCs are taking their toll on vendors not aggressively pursuing this segment. The rise of low-cost PCs is the main reason for Toshiba's abandoning the market, Mike Stinson, senior director of product marketing at Toshiba, told CNET's NEWS.COM in an interview. Infinia consumer PCs were introduced only last September. The line competes head to head with Compaq's Presario line, the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion, the IBM Aptiva, and Packard Bell models at large computer retailers such as such as CompUSA and on big online sales sites such as Computer Discount Warehouse. "There's been a tremendous [price] shift downward. We're hearing from some [resellers] that 70 percent of the market is below $1,400...30 percent is below $1,000," Stinson said. "Infinia is not positioned for this kind of market. It is not designed to be a $999 PC and it never will be," he added. The Infinia is marketed as a high-end consumer PC with a panoply of multimedia features. Typically, the Infinia has been priced over $2,000. Toshiba will now give precedence to its Equium desktop business PC line and to preparing for its entrance into the server computer market next year, Stinson said. The winner appears to be Compaq, which has taken what can only be described as a scorched earth policy in its attack on the consumer PC market. Compaq has blanketed every segment in this market and has been particularly aggressive at the low end. For example, Compaq offers a Presario that sells for about $795 with a 180-MHz Cyrix processor, a 1.6GB hard drive, modem, and CD-ROM drive. But Toshiba isn't the only one feeling the effects. IBM recently restructured its consumer PC group to better deal with the low-cost PC phenomenon and promptly began to sell a sub-$1,000 box. Like Toshiba, IBM's Aptiva computer models were clustered perilously at the high end of the consumer market. Toshiba will continue to sell notebook PCs in the consumer channel, according to Stinson. Toshiba will also leave open the possibility of selling selected Equium models to the consumer channel "if they want it," he said. Toshiba's Equium line is designed as a business PC for corporate customers. The company may also look at getting back into the consumer market at another time with a low-cost "convergence" product, that combines the functions of a PC and TV, Stinson said. Toshiba will not bring out any new Infinia models and will sell off its inventory, Stinson added.