Intel plays down netbook 'cannibalisation'
There, there
An Intel exec claimed today that the dive in computer sales many have blamed on cheap-as-chips netbooks was currently at about 20 per cent, "less than speculation".
Chipzilla's EMEA sales boss Christian Morales told Reuters netbook sales accounted for 16 per cent of all notebooks flogged worldwide.
He added that the figure was a little higher in western Europe. In Blighty and Italy netbook sales may be as much as 25 per cent of notebook sales.
"We have seen some cannibalisation of Celeron by Atom," Morales said, referring to Intel's processors for lower-priced notebooks.
Intel pulls in higher profit margins for Atom than its older Celeron chips, he said.
"From an inventory standpoint, we think it is really optimised for current levels of business," Morales said. "Supply-chain confidence is much higher."
Take-up of new notebooks loaded with Intel processors had been sluggish in eastern Europe and Turkey, according to the firm's EMEA salesman.
Morales said Intel was keen to flog budget netbooks in Africa, but added the cost of web access needed to be lowered first.
"This is where we are working very actively with governments," he said. ®
COMMENTS
re:Thuuuump
Chip price is only part of it. Atom + its buddy chips chew power (relative ot an ARM SOC), meaning cooling fans, bigger batteries, etc etc...
All that adds to size, cost and clunkiness.
Wonder if
they've asked themselves WHY people are buying netbooks?
I have three laptops (and a number of other PCs & Servers) each useful for different things. I recently bought a netbook because it is light, very light.
As I spend two hours a day on the train and a further hour going to and from the station I wanted the lightest thing that would do what I wanted. My netbook does all that I want and more.
And I don't break my back carrying it around.
Maybe amanfromMars got one thing right. Netbooks may be "precocious, self-indulgent toy(s)" but this one's _MY_ precocious, self-indulgent toy.
Thuuuuuuump
... the sound of Intel's profits crashing to the ground as price erosion caused by the availability of ARM-powered netbooks kills all their margin on Atom. They simply won't be able to compete with the highly-integrated chips from Qualcomm et al.
Move On now ...... there's Lots More to See Elsewhere.
"Morales said Intel was keen to flog budget netbooks in Africa, but added the cost of web access needed to be lowered first."
What good is a netbook/notebook/laptop/desktop/HPC without web access nowadays? Surely so stripped of communication, is it merely a precocious, self-indulgent toy. The Network is the Computer .... or is it and IT just AIdDriver........ which takes us very conveniently into the Irregular and Unconventional Wacky World of Virtual Operating Systems ...... and Silver* Cloud Service?
* As a Novelty, does such an Elemental Descript allow for any number of Future Beta Improvemments
Not sure I understand this use of the word
Are they saying that spare pieces of Celerons are being used to build shonky netbooks that look like Citroen 2CVs?
That's what I thought cannibalisation meant.
