Gary: A different perspective on PIII sales.
...'So far, Pentium III systems have enjoyed a faster acceptance rate than Pentium II or Celeron-based systems, Baker said.....'
I wonder where Poyner is getting his data????? According to this article Pentium III is experiencing a better rate of acceptance than Pentium II!
Also I heard that a plan is in the works at Intel to discontinue the Pii chips,the idea behind this strategy being to separate and clearly define the high end and low end of the market with Piii and Celeron thereby stemming the bleeding.This should,they say, would enable Intel to price these two chips appropriately hopefully resulting in better margins at the end of the day.How all this will develop is still a matter of speculation,we shall see.
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Will Pentium III ease the low-cost PC war?
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 13, 1999, 5:30 a.m. PT
Despite the surge in demand for sub-$600 computers, high-end Pentium III-based PCs have managed to rack up "respectable" sales among consumers, according to one market research firm, providing some hope to PC makers who have been pummeling each other in the low-cost PC arena.
Systems based on the Pentium III processor, which debuted in February, accounted for approximately 9 percent of U.S. retail computer sales in March and have helped raise average selling prices for consumer boxes, said Stephen Baker, computer analyst with PC Data.
Among Windows-based PCs, Pentium IIIs captured 9.7 percent of the retail market, he added. As a result, average consumer PC prices edged up toward $1,000 in March. For the previous two months, prices averaged around $950.
"It's not doing badly. It has been respectable," he said, adding that the rise in average selling prices in retail systems can be traced to the Pentium III.
Although Pentium III computers have only been available for a few weeks, the sales figures could provide a speck of optimism for manufacturers, which have been beating each other up with low cost machines.
Overall, PC unit sales are still growing at 15 percent but prices are descending at 10 to 15 percent, according to Richard Gardner, PC analyst at Salomon Smith Barney. The major PC manufacturers "need to grow units and revenues at significantly above market rates in order to achieve current consensus expectations," he said.
Some believe that the picture is actually more bleak because of sluggish demand among corporate buyers.
"You almost have to have 25 percent growth in units to have any growth in revenue," said Matt Sargent, computing analyst at ZD Market Intelligence. PC Data tracks mail order and retail sales, but not sales from direct vendors such as Dell Computer and Gateway. The statistics also do not include PCs that go through business and corporate sales channels.
While March figures aren't available from Market Intelligence, the average price for a retail computer dropped from $946 in January to $936 in February while unit sales rose. The average price for commercial desktops, however, rose from an nadir of $1,204 in January to $1,251 in February although demand dropped off. The average price for a commercial PC in December was $1,290.
Intel released the Pentium III in February amid a $300 million marketing campaign and a controversy surrounding its "serial number" feature. On Sunday, the company cut prices on the 500-MHz and 450-MHz Pentium IIIs by 8 and 17 percent. Even with the cut, the chip costs more than Celeron or K6 chips from AMD. Likewise, computers incorporating the chip cost more as well. A 550-MHz is slated for May, said sources.
So far, Pentium III systems have enjoyed a faster acceptance rate than Pentium II or Celeron-based systems, Baker said, but neither comparison is really appropriate.
The Pentium II, which occupied 4.5 percent of the market when it debuted in May 1998, was more expensive, relatively speaking, than the Pentium III. Celeron processors, meanwhile, received tons of advance publicity, nearly all of it bad. Celeron PCs accounted for around 4 percent of sales in the first month of availability. |
