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

To: michael who wrote (3368)	2/13/1998 3:33:00 AM
From: lml	Respond to of 4679

Michael, I thought my post was self-explanatory. DIMD & CREAF are competitors in the market for PC graphic cards. CREAF, by entering the market with a comparable graphics card is giving the consumer a choice. This leads to price competition, which erodes a company's profit margin on its product.

To: michael who wrote (3368)	2/13/1998 5:59:00 AM
From: John Coltrane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4679

PMFJI, here's my take on the CREAF announcement. Part of my post on the CREAF board, ...At present the leading manufacturer of Graphic cards with the Voodoo Graphics chipset is DIMD with their Monster 3D. They have the lion's share of this market which is growing at a considerable rate (please excuse the lack of specific numbers). DIMD has done an excellent job of branding "Monster" and consequently, not too long ago, had a successful rollout of a "Monster Sound" audio card. This is a spatial sound card which gamers love. Consider the following regarding TDFX--taken from the Motley Fool analysis, "...sales are highly concentrated to only a few companies. Orchid, Diamond Multimedia, and Williams account for 44%, 33% and 11% of sales, respectively, in 1996; and Diamond and Williams accounted for 59% and 15% of revenues during the first quarter of 1997...." Orchid was the first to market with the Voodoo chipset and IMHO, the acute rise in DIMD's percentage is due to, a) DIMD's marketing clout, b) DIMD's brand recognition, and c) the successful branding of the "Monster" label ...It had been widely expected by all followers and by all indications that DIMD would be FIRST to market with the Voodoo2 in the form of the Monster 3D2. Given all of the above, I obviously have been following TDFX and not too long ago began to follow DIMD. As already demonstrated with Voodoo, if DIMD is first to market with product they will virtually own the market. Except for three factors, the first is quite technical in nature, but simply put the Voodoo2 chipset allows the manufacturer to differentiate its product by the amount and configuration of RAM built onto the graphic board which affects the level of performance considerably. Hardcore gamers who are the first purchasers and frankly define the market, have expressed their desire for the maximum configuration which is 12 megs. DIMD, maybe to their misfortune, has decided and announced a 8 meg configuration with no corresponding 12 meg version. Second, CREAF has stepped to the 3dfx plate and has WHACKED one, not only "might" they be FIRST to market, but meeting the market with the desired configuration of 12 megs . Lastly, CREAF is the only manufacturer who comes to mind that has the manufacturing, marketing, and branding clout equal to (and perhaps greater than) DIMD. It would not be surprising to see DIMD become CREAF's Orchid, though DIMD has too much muscle for such an extreme comparison. If DIMD does not respond quickly they will lose the lead with the hardcore gamers and only marketing might save them with the rest of the market. Motley Fool Trade fool.com Tom's Hardware Page sysdoc.pair.com boot Magazine Preview of Voodoo2 previews.bootnet.com nlayout&-sortfield=MODDATE&-sortorder=descend&PREVIEW=PREVIEW&-max=10&-reci d=33402&-find boot Magazine Preview of Intel i740 previews.bootnet.com nlayout&-sortfield=MODDATE&-sortorder=descend&PREVIEW=PREVIEW&-max=10&-reci d=33484&-find