Memory chipmakers brace for tough quarter
,----[ Quote ]
| Industry headed for loss; DRAM suppliers overshot Vista demand: analyst
|
| Personal computer sales cannot take off fast enough for the makers
| of computer-memory chips known as DRAM, an industry on pace to suffer
| one of its worst business quarters this decade.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dram-chipmakers-suffer-worst-quarter/story.aspx?guid=%7BB15928E6-7034-4FAB-86C0-45CBA08AAD68%7D
http://tinyurl.com/2vhe99
Underwhelming, but PR puts a spin. That's what Microsoft does best. Who are
they kidding? It was a flop. Project Longhorn was buried and Vista is a
buggy consolution price that is inferior to its predecessor.
Related:
Microsoft Partner Points to Soft Vista Demand
,----[ Quote ]
| Overall, it's difficult to say how well Vista is doing. Yes, Microsoft
| has sold more than 20 million Vista licenses. But how many customers
| actually requested the operating system? And how many more would send
| it back to Redmond, if only they knew how? Based on all the negative
| Vista buzz, Apple is actually suggesting that the Vista party is over
| before it starts.
|
| In reality, PC vendors are selling boatloads of Vista systems to
| consumers. But perhaps not as many as expected. How else can you
| explain Dell's decision to re-introduce Windows XP on some systems while
| at the same time launching consumer PCs with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled.
`----
http://techiqmag.com/2007/05/10/microsoft-partner-points-to-soft-vista-demand/
Nine burning questions about how Vista is really doing
,----[ Quote ]
| Instead, there's so much spin -- from Microsoft, from rivals such
| as Apple Inc., from market analysts pushing research and more research
| -- it would even leave Sasha Cohen dizzy. Here's our attempt to unravel
| this puzzle-shrinkwrapped-in-a-mystery.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9021838
http://tinyurl.com/2u6gzq
,----[ Quote ]
| "This is a relic of old-line consumer products companies like Philip
| Morris, or fraudsters like Miniscribe who literally shipped bricks in
| lieu of disk drives to hit sales targets.
|
| [...]
|
| Channel stuffing is the business practice where a company or a sales
| force within a company inflates its sales figures by forcing more
| products through a distribution channel than the channel is capable
| of selling to the world at large.
|
| [...]
|
| We have a game we play around the office here with Microsoft press
| releases. The game is, "Find the words that make the headline true."
| It's not always easy.
|
| [...]
|
| Sony, like Microsoft, announces units shipped, not actually sold.
| This allows both companies to advertise sales numbers based on how
| many units they can force retailers to accept, not on how many units
| customers actually buy; both have considerable market power to push
| excess unsold inventory into the channel."
`----
http://www.informationarbitrage.com/2007/04/microsoft_phili.html
|
|
