Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (43552)	1/2/1998 8:31:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 186894

All, Article...Rank of top 100 computer retail outlets... Computer Retail Week Survey Ranks 1997's Top 100 Computer Retailers; Computer Retail Week Names CompUSA Number One, Reports Sales Among Top 100 up 10.3 Percent to $29 Billion January 2, 1998 MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via Individual Inc. -- Dallas-based CompUSA (NYSE: CPU) is named 1997's number one computer retailer in the Top 100 listing published in the January 5, 1998, issue of CMP Media's Computer Retail Week. The annual listing is based on total computer-merchandise sales for the calendar year which reached $29 billion, a 10.3 percent increase over 1996. CompUSA led the list with sales of $5.09 billion, up from $4.25 billion in 1996. With a projected 19.6 percent increase in revenue for calendar 1997, CompUSA put more distance between itself and the rest of the pack, representing about 15 percent of the total sales of the Top 100 retailers. Rounding out the top 10 are: 2. Best Buy (NYSE: BB) $3.42 billion 3. Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) 2.59 billion 4. Micro Warehouse (Nasdaq: MWHS) 2.22 billion 5. Computer City SuperCenter (NYSE: TAN) 1.84 billion 6. Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC) 1.81 billion 7. Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) 1.46 billion 8. CDW Computer Center (Nasdaq: CDWC) 1.25 billion 9. Micro Center 1.23 billion 10. Office Max (NYSE: OMX) 1.10 billion Sixty-six of the Top 100 posted sales increases for 1997 and 22 experienced sales declines in a year when severe hardware price erosion challenged computer retailers to surpass their 1996 sales. The number of retail outlets accounted for by the Top 100 computer retailers increased 3.7 percent to 23,227 from 22,402 at the end of 1996, in spite of the departure from the retail market of Montgomery Ward, Lechmere, Service Merchandise, Incredible Universe and McDuff's. The Top 100 computer retailers ended the year with a 10.3 percent increase in computer-merchandise revenue to $29 billion, up from $26 billion in 1996, the technology-retailing newspaper reports. Retail- only sales for the top 100 were up 9.1 percent to $23.9 billion, from $21.9 billion in 1996. Hardware sales increased 6.8 percent to $20.5 billion and software sales were up 19.1 percent to $4.3 billion. "Emergence of the sub-$1,000 computer was the most visible symptom of industrywide price drops in most hardware categories, from storage and modems to printers, monitors and scanners," writes Roger C. Lanctot, Computer Retail Week's Editorial Research Director. "Plunging prices meant lower margins for retailers, in spite of a market where competitive pressures were relatively relaxed for most of the year, with several chains cooling their pace of store openings and others more focused on increasing profits." The Computer Retail Week Top 100 list is compiled with the use of public and private information sources including industry and financial analysts, the companies themselves and consultants. All sales figures are CRW estimates based on the best available data and represent calendar year 1997 projected sales figures. ______________________________________________________________________ Regards, Michael

To: greenspirit who wrote (43552)	1/2/1998 8:39:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

All, Article...Chairman of Intel Japan forecasts IT market for 98... japanbiztech.com Forecast IT Industry 1998 -- Ikuo Nishioka, Chairman of Intel KK Japan January 2, 1998 (TOKYO) -- How will the IT industry fare in 1998? BizTech asked Ikuo Nishioka, Chairman of Intel KK of Japan, one of the leading domestic IT companies, for his impressions. BizTech: What will be important issues for enterprise computing or informatics in 1998? Nishioka: This is a mega-competition age. To cope with the rapidly changing world situation, it is a must for management themselves to use a PC freely, grasping domestic and overseas information on an online, real-time basis and conducting agile management so that necessary countermeasures to competition can be established quickly. Visual computing, which enables management to easily utilize a PC and read business data visually on the PC, will debut as a new PC trend. BizTech: What are the products and services the IT industry and your company should provide as solutions to such issues? Nishioka: Visual computing requires a PC which incorporates a high-performance microprocessor. We as Intel will offer a Pentium II processor with the highest performance to satisfy every kind of demand, such as a desktop PC, notebook PC, workstation and server. BizTech: What do you think of the progress of the information- and network-oriented movement in the home computing market? And what are the necessary requirements driving that market sector? Nishioka: The Internet will be further spurred into the popularity and released from the limited number of maniacs to the general people as a convenient information network. But, popularization of the communication infrastructure, or low price, are indispensable conditions. It is really hoped that Telephodai service -- the fixed-charge system of NTT Corp. -- be provided around-the-clock and not limited to midnight, and the open computer network (OCN) be priced below 20,000 yen (US$156) per month. Besides, it is an important condition that services provided by city, town and village offices be announced over the Internet. BizTech: How will the Internet be used in 1998 in homes and enterprises, and what will be its impact? Nishioka: It is troublesome for idle correspondents to write a letter even when they want to do. But, they can communicate very easily if they use the Internet. Besides, not only can they have every type of information at their homes, but also buy desired merchandise from information on a home page by means of visual computing. The year 1998 will be the start of such services. It will be desirable to completely instruct a customer how to access the Internet when he/she buys a home PC. (BizTech Editorial Dept.) _____________________________________________________________________ Regards, Michael

To: greenspirit who wrote (43552)	1/2/1998 1:33:00 PM
From: Barry A. Watzman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Mike, regarding the Quickcam VC and similar cameras. The Quickcam VC is great, at $85 to $100 after rebate, the quality is excellent (I have the USB model). Video E-Mail does not work well, however. Yes, anyone can receive it, the camera's software "wraps" the video with a viewer, but the size for even a few seconds becomes impractical. Also, if you cut the resolution to help the size, the viewer insists on "blowing it up", which looks awful. If you try this, have the recipient go into Control Panel/multimedia/video and set the size for "actual size", but not sure if it will help on the self-contained viewer. Video stills do not suffer from the size issue to nearly this extent. What does work much better is real-time video conferencing/videophone, using MS Netmeeting, or the software that comes with the Connectix camera. Netmeeting is free, of course, and it works even if only one party has a camera (the other party can receive the pictures, but can only send audio). Be sure that you have a sound card with full-duplex capabilities, and it helps to wear headphones (otherwise, you hear your own voice delayed, and it gets very confusing). Barry Watzman