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.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott Moore who wrote (45139)	1/8/1999 12:06:00 AM
From: Scot	Respond to of 1572099

Scott on Paul, k6 sales, and brand recognition: <You sure like to bash a newbie. I thought I'd just throw in my two cents as a part-time home system builder> Scott, thanks for your insights on screwdriver sales. Too many of the discussions here focus on who's got the biggest chip (so to speak) and neglect the 'other' aspects of the stock and the company (read: everything else). Personally, I can only count newspaper ads and cruise through the stores to get what is probably a crappy sense of the market. <And it is interesting that even the modestly educated buyers are getting feedback from the Circuit City and Office Depot salesmen that the Celeron is no great prize> As we've discussed before on this thread, the celerons may have improved substantially with the 'a' models, but poor perceptions remain from the initial chips. So it is not surprising to me that consumers don't have a tough time believing Intel is trying to screw them with a lame-o chip. All it takes is a little word-of-mouth combined with a tremendously confusing product line..... How do you sell a Celeron? My understanding of the marketing and segmentation strategy (for better or worse) is as follows: AMD "Our chips are comparable to PIIs in biz apps and with 3dnow in games, plus they cost less." Intel "1. Celeron is not as fast as the PII, but it's probably good enough for you.....especially since you're cheap or poor. 2. PII provides better performance (than the Celeron) for more money and are faster than AMD. 3. Hey IT guy at a fortune 500 co., you really need the Xeon. It rules! You're an important guy, don't you deserve the best (by 1%)?" The argument I'm attempting to make: Intel's baggage as a gouger (i.e., monopoly pricing) + poor word of mouth on original celerons + market segmentation strategy (admittedly a difficult task at best considering the commoditization of chips) = increased market opportunities for AMD. As someone said early this week, AMD doesn't have to gain 90% market share to make $$. AMD has made tremendous strides this past year, and is poised to really make significant headway in the next. Someone else can discuss the role of the processor division on AMD's finances, but while you're correct that this division has been a drag on the company's finances, it is its best hope for significant growth. Hopefully the earnings report will show how significant an effect the processor division can have over a single quarter. -Scot PS...don't worry about Paul, he spends too much time on SI, instead of in his woodshop building spice racks and lawn furniture.

To: Scott Moore who wrote (45139)	1/8/1999 12:18:00 AM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572099

Scott - Re: "even the modestly educated buyers are getting feedback from the Circuit City and Office Depot salesmen that the Celeron is no great prize. " Yes - the modestly educated buyers are getting their technical details from Circuit City and Office Depot SALESMEN ! I'm sure these SALESMEN are all experienced, highly educated and sophisticated enough to have performed detailed system and application benchmarks. Thanks for the laugh ! Do you work for Circuit City or Office Depot? Paul By the way - since early December and still continuing, Circuit City has been running TV ads constantly pushing the Intel Celeron Processors in HP or Compaq computers.