Oh!! I didn't realize "under $1000 PCs" were the bag of HoHos. I thought you meant the delicious treat from Hostess. This is rather confusing. Why would you say "Hohos" when you were referring to low-priced PCs? Do you also say 'cupcake' when referring to subcompact cars???
If you're referring to me as a 'marketing guru' then I'll have to blush at the compliment. I've never really used my degree but it's good to know you appreciate my work. Since I don't have any market research data in front of me - and alas, I'm not going to go looking just because you've asked - but if you wanted to hire me, then we can discuss that, so this'll just be a good 'ole swag. >With the eeePC at the low end and Apple at the high end: >How quickly will the middle market ($500-$750) shrink? I think you need to be more clear of what you mean by "shrink". Are you asking if the middle market will see less players because one or more companies gets out of the market? The $500 - $750 market is already pretty tight to begin with. Would Dell buy HP? Would HP buy Dell? Would the justice department allow that to happen? Will Gateway buy Dell? Will Dell buy Gateway? If they did, would anybody even notice? In the market, there's primarily HP, Dell, Apple and the rest. I'm intentionally dropping Asus into that market because most people (outside of geeks) don't know who they are. >How profitable will it be? Probably not really profitable. Margins are already really, really tight right now on systems. Unless you see a major drop in the cost of the parts - for instance, if hard drives (spinning or solid state) suddenly start selling for under $10 each, high-end processors going for under $50, etc, etc, it'd be difficult to see margins increasing all that much. Now if you could figure out how to radically decrease the manufacturing costs, then you might see a slight up-tick in profitability. >Will PC makers migrate up or down? Why should they? The low-priced PCs are what get people that don't already own or are on a budget into the market in the first place. If anything, they'll continue to do what they're doing - sell low priced PCs to attract people into the market and sell high-end PCs for people who feel their needs justify shelling out a few thousand to have the fastest PC around. -ls -----Original Message----- From: Computer Guys Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Piwowar Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:27 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CGUYS] OMG! Apple US Market Share for "Premium" PCs Hits 6 >the somewhat obvious fact that the >$1,000 PC segment is Apple's by >default, since Dell, HP, and Lenovo sell the bulk of their machines in >the $500-$750 range, and Apple has only one model selling for less than >$1,000. That is why you were also given the bag of Hohos. Those are under $1000 PCs. For the marketing guru -- With the eeePC at the low end and Apple at the high end: How quickly will the middle market ($500-$750) shrink? How profitable will it be? Will PC makers migrate up or down? ************************************************************************ * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** ************************************************************************ * ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
