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To: username who wrote (35109)	2/17/1998 10:27:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 61433

Average PC price falls below $1,300 in retail Reuters Story - February 17, 1998 22:06 %ELI %DPR %US %RET HWP CPQ V%REUTER P%RTR SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The average price of a personal computer in retail locations fell to less than $1,300 for the first time, according to market researcher Computer Intelligence, and prices are expected to keep falling. On average, desktop PC prices declined more than 20 percent from January 1997 after a period of "reasonable stability" in 1996, Computer Intelligence said. "We don't expect this trend will stop or slow down dramatically, either, with $799 machines in the market now and $699 products on the shelf next Christmas," said Aaron Goldberg, an executive vice president of the La Jolla, Calif., firm. "We won't be surprised if the average price falls (to) between $1,100 and $1,150 by December." The market share of the feature-packed sub-$1,000 PCs, an exploding category, slipped slightly in December to about 30.8 percent of the total retail market, from 32.2 percent in November, and 35.8 percent in October, due to more buying activity in the $1,000 to $1,200 price range. At the same time, average purchase prices for all desktop PCs dropped. Consumers remain price-focused, and the sub-$1,000 PCs should regain share in 1998, Goldberg said, adding that the $1,000 to $1,250 models bear watching, however, because of the December activity in that segment. Compaq Computer Corp. maintained its position as the leading vendor in the sub-$1,000 PC market. Compaq's share rose to 44.1 percent in December from a sluggish 26.7 percent share in November and a leading 50.8 percent in October. Hewlett-Packard Co., however, soared from a tiny 0.3 percent in September to 6.3 percent in October, 9.4 percent in November and to 15.2 percent in December. "HP is now large enough that, in order to grow much more, they'll have to take share from Compaq or Packard Bell. It will be an interesting contest," Goldberg said.