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 : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DellFan who wrote (85776)	12/16/1998 8:33:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 176387

So much for the sub $1000 PC hype, huh? DF: Thanks,the link you provided worked fine. Looks like DELL's ASP should be better or same as as last 2 quarters,ie $2400.00 or better, good news for sure.May be this way we could get that extra 2 cents above the consensus. ==================================== Excerpts from Miami Herald Dec.01,98 Bruce Rasa, product marketing manager for IBM Aptiva, says Big Blue's low-end $599 Aptiva -- which does not include a monitor -- has not proven hugely popular. "All of our volumes are not instantly shifting. A lot of people want more features,'' he says. Rasa says Aptiva had a very strong third quarter, but mostly thanks to sales of mid-level machines. "We are actually seeing some of our strongest growth in the $1,000 to $1,500 range,'' Rasa says. With that in mind, IBM doesn't plan to cut prices before the holidays on its Aptivas, which range from $599 to $2,199..... ..... Rick Doherty, founder of the market research firm Envisioneering. "The low prices tend to draw them in, but then they walk out with higher-priced PCs that can do more for them,'' Doherty noted. "It's kind of like buying a car. You go in expecting to buy an Escort, and you might come out with a Mercury with air conditioning and a CD player.''</b. It's also true, however that computer makers have become aggressive in offering financing to consumers, allowing them to buy better machines. For example, Apple is offering $29.99 per month financing on the iMac. Gateway's YourWare program allows a consumer to make monthly payments on a PC with a promise that Gateway will buy it back on a trade-in. "One of the things that the vendors are trying to do is . . . create ancillary and downstream revenues. The way they do that is they sell money, in the form of financing,'' says Roger Kay, PC analyst at International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass. PC companies also want to sell warranties, Internet access and training courses to users to supplement the lower profits they earn as PC prices fall. There's another reason prices have leveled off: economics. Worldwide economic uncertainty caused many computer-parts suppliers to cut back on inventory this year. When PC demand surpassed expectations, the lack of components created inflation. Prices for memory chips -- probably the most expensive component of a PC after the microprocessor -- had declined by more than 90 percent during the past three years. But prices now are rising as manufacturers cut production. "There is upward pressure on computer prices right now,'' Kay says. Even as prices rise, demand for state-of-the art technology soars. Dell Computer says one of its best-selling systems to consumers costs $2,200. The company does not offer a PC priced below $1,000, yet enjoys booming sales. Compaq Computer was the first major manufacturer to recognize the power of the low-cost marketplace. But its "Triple Threat'' Presario model unveiled last month is designed for the Internet user who wants fast access to cyberspace, and won't balk at spending $1,599 to get it.