Intel to slash Celeron 266 price in September

Sources in the industry said today that the price of the Intel Celeron 266MHz part will drop to $55 when prices are cut on the 14th of September. But Intel has denied that the price will drop that low, and other sources said that the price is likely to be around the $85 mark. The confusion may have arisen because £55 sterling equates to around $86. Intel is, however, expected to announce pricing for its Katmai and Tanner chips on that date, according to the source. If true, that could mean that the processors will arrive into the market far faster than anyone expected. As the PC industry ramps up towards its busiest period of the year, AMD confirmed, as revealed here four weeks ago, that it is on target to release its 350MHz K6-2 next week. Rana Mainee, strategic marketing director at AMD, said that if the price cuts were as low as this, it was an indication that its Celeron strategy was showing strong signs of faltering. “How much do you pay for yesterday’s newspaper?” said Mainee. “I really believe the Celeron 266 has been the biggest nonentity this year.” He claimed that Intel had pumped money into the Celeron to persuade OEMs to use the part. “Mendocino is completely different,” he said. “If they had waited three months they would have had a useful strategy.” Intel will release two versions of its Mendocino Celeron processors on the 24th August. ® Neither Intel nor AMD are investors in The Register