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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hpeace who wrote (10087)	12/3/1997 7:21:00 PM
From: Douglas Rushkoff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

There really ain't no problems with even the cheapest Presarios for most home users. The only problems I've seen with any so-called substandard configurations come in when people try to turn their box into an upgradable set of components (ala Micron XRU, or higher end Dell machines). Frankly, most home consumers don't go that route, except when they purchase video or 3-d cards for their game-playing kids. Compaq's notebook problems, as I see them, stemmed from their inability to use components from other manufacturers. Some of the models actually required a Compaq-made modem, if memory serves. But I don't believe their current models suffer from this problem, either.

To: hpeace who wrote (10087)	12/3/1997 7:40:00 PM
From: Kai-Uwe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Thread: The second-tier mfg'ers are beginning to suffer from the onslaught by the CPQ/Dell war battalions. We will see loads more of this stuff in the next year. It'll be a rough ride for some, and a great harvest for others. K. AST lowers the ax By Margaret Kane December 3, 1997 ZDNN AST Research Inc., the beleaguered division of Samsung Electronics America Inc. that has faced sharp losses and an eroding market share, announced today it will lay off 1,120 more employees as part of a company-wide reorganization designed to refocus its business. The layoffs -- which amount to about 37 percent of the staff -- will primarily affect workers in the North American and Asian operations. Plans for the European operations will be finalized in the next two weeks. "AST has taken previous steps to restructure which have been beneficial but have not gone far enough," said AST CEO S.T. Kim in a statement. "Looking squarely at our recent performance in the context of the competitive landscape for PCs, our long-term goal can no longer be simply to sell more PCs to more customers." Instead, the company will narrow its focus to specific markets, including small and medium-sized businesses in specific geographic locations. In April, AST announced it would lay off 1,000 employees and reported a $110 million loss for its first quarter. Earlier that month, Samsung said it would buy up the shares of AST it didn't already own in a deal worth about $170 million. The company has struggled in the U.S. marketplace, falling from a 3.9 percent share of the PC market in 1994 to a 2.4 percent share in 1996, according to Dataquest Inc. Samsung has also made major management shifts, firing two CEOs and replacing much of the senior staff with its own executives. The changes today include moving supply-related functions from the company's Irvine, Calif., headquarters to a Fort Worth, Texas, manufacturing plant. Capacity at the Fort Worth plant will be scaled down as well. In Asia, the company will enter a cooperative manufacturing agreement with Samsung at a plant in Dongguan, China. Sales facilities in Southeast Asia and Australia will be eliminated, with Samsung handling ongoing customer support. The rest of AST's Asia/Pacific sales will be consolidated in "historically strong areas," including China. Officials said the changes were aimed at cutting response time to customers and trimming costs. "The critical outcome of these moves is the realization of meaningful changes in our business model to focus on our strongest customer markets," said Senior Vice President Tom Scott in a release. "Given this new focus, we must be able to reduce response time so that our customers can get what they want when they want it, which, in today's marketplace, means within a few days." Copyright (c) 1997 ZDNet. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZDNet is prohibited. ZDNet and the ZDNet logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company.