AMD grabs 20% of the desktop market

josh_1413

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Kind of sad, that the best chips only get 20% market share.
Oh well. idiots and fanboys keep Intel rich.

That's great news for AMD. I don't see Intel really coming out with anything that really competes. So i think it will only go up from here.
 

poncho

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Yeah is interesting, I work in retail at a department store while im studying at uni and deal quite a bit with computers.
Of course most people who come into buy a computer from a department store know squat about computers and are just going off advertising or the old 'a friend of a friend told me I need this.' So 9/10 times people come in looking for a pentium.
We pretty much only stock the large oem's like hp, compaq, acer, etc etc and its sometimes difficult to get an AMD equivalent, but at the moment, depending on what there looking to use the pc for, Ill often try to sell them onto an AMD box if I can. You wouldnt believe how hard it is. Standard responses are usually
"Ive never heard of AMD who are they" and/or
"So why is it cheaper if its a faster computer"

The customers think your trying to swindle them into buying some second rate el-cheapo box.

Would have to agree that having the better technology is nothing if your customers dont know about it. I think that is the main thing holding AMD back. With out the gigantor marketing budget of INTEL they have to rely on word of mouth, and they need to hold a performance lead for a significant amount of time for that to really work in a broader market then just your average computer enthusiast.
 

slvr_phoenix

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I couldn't agree more. Without doing some decent marketing for a change, AMD is going to stay small time. It's sad that they're only now just catching back up to where they were. I wonder if they'll waste this opportunity too and end up dropping back down again. I hope not. But then it is AMD...
 

endyen

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Without doing some decent marketing for a change, AMD is going to stay small time.
Do you actually believe marketing has been thier problem?
They seem to be doing things smart. They have given business proof that they offer a solid performance product. They have enhanced thier facilities, and are expanding thier high tech staff. They have been building thier infrastructure. They have made a step towards keeping Intel at bay, with thier law suite. All the same, I think Hector has a lot of trouble sleeping, with dreams of shareholder revolts, and hostile takeovers initiated by Intel.
It's a tough go trying to build a muti-billion$ company, even more so with Intel breathing down your back.
 

slvr_phoenix

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Do you actually believe marketing has been thier problem?
Their only problem? No. One of their bigger problems? Definately.

They seem to be doing things smart.
No they don't. They're doing just about everything wrong that they possibly can. If it weren't for the performance of their CPUs they'd be making VIA look good by now.

They have enhanced thier facilities
Something that they should have done a long time ago. It's a key part of the same downward spiral. They can't create a demand for their product through advertising because they couldn't supply that demand if they did. They have to increase their production capabilities before they can begin to market seriously. So that step should have been done way back when the K7 was kicking the pants off of the P3 and first P4s.

and are expanding thier high tech staff.
IMHO this is a mistake for them to be doing at this time. Until they increase their capacity and market their product better to increase their revenues, the last thing that they need to be doing is working on developing significant new tech. Their K8 (K7 really) core is solid ground for building on. It'll hold up against Intel likely for years to come still. They should just concentrate on making minor improvements to that and minimize R&D until they've really got the funds to waste on a new P4 killer.

They have made a step towards keeping Intel at bay, with thier law suite.
You don't honestly believe that, do you? I mean that lawsuit is the biggest joke I've ever heard of. I don't even think that AMD intends to win it. I think, if anything, this is just a new form of marketing to them. I mean look how much press it's gotten compared to traditional marketing. Win or lose they've already benefitted enormously. And honestly, their chances of winning are pretty slim. Even some of the retailers that should be on AMD's side (if AMD's claims are true) are pissed with AMD for their wild allegations.

All the same, I think Hector has a lot of trouble sleeping, with dreams of shareholder revolts
Another major failing of AMD is the lack of a backbone to stand up to the shareholders and work towards the future instead of the next quarter.

and hostile takeovers initiated by Intel.
Not even remotely likely. (And quite possibly not even possible because of anti-monopoly law.) Maybe from the likes of IBM or VIA , but definately not Intel.

It's a tough go trying to build a muti-billion$ company, even more so with Intel breathing down your back.
Are you kidding? Bumbling idiotic Intel? Intel who's only really good step forward since jumping to RDRAM early was the Northwood core? For AMD to still be struggling so badly against Intel even while their product performs typically better than Intel's, only shows how AMD's management is equally inept if not more so.

It's actually the same in my own company. Though the companies involved are much smaller (and hence I get to get much closer to the figureheads) it's the general ineptitude of all competitors that keeps any one from taking a major lead over the others, and not that any of the companies are actually running themselves well. (Or even competently.) Sometimes being the market leader is not about being good at what you do, but about being the least bad at it.
 

slvr_phoenix

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yea i hope they get that deal with dell and they take off...... could lead to better products.. more money for there research lol
I doubt that it'll take off. Dell is likely only selling the AMD procs so that they can claim that they aren't an Intel-only shop when AMD's lawsuit comes to trial. If Dell were actually serious about it then there'd at least be one low-end AMD box on a hard to find page somwhere. The fact that Dell hasn't taken it that far says fairly loudly how unserious they are about this, at least IM(NS)HO.
 

endyen

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endyen wrote:
They seem to be doing things smart.
No they don't. They're doing just about everything wrong that they possibly can. If it weren't for the performance of their CPUs they'd be making VIA look good by now.
They have been working hard at getting the opteron recognized by the business comunity. Since they are also the largest market for desktop systems as well, that seems smart to me.
endyen wrote:
They have enhanced thier facilities
Something that they should have done a long time ago. It's a key part of the same downward spiral. They can't create a demand for their product through advertising because they couldn't supply that demand if they did. They have to increase their production capabilities before they can begin to market seriously. So that step should have been done way back when the K7 was kicking the pants off of the P3 and first P4s.
IIRC, they did try then, but for some reason ( sabotage by Intel is the most common speculation) they had to deal with a shareholer's revolt.
endyen wrote:
and are expanding thier high tech staff.
IMHO this is a mistake for them to be doing at this time. Until they increase their capacity and market their product better to increase their revenues, the last thing that they need to be doing is working on developing significant new tech. Their K8 (K7 really) core is solid ground for building on. It'll hold up against Intel likely for years to come still. They should just concentrate on making minor improvements to that and minimize R&D until they've really got the funds to waste on a new P4 killer
I did mean white room, and assembely people, who require a lot of training, before they can work on chips. It's not like they could go and grab anyone off the steets of Dresden.
endyen wrote:
They have made a step towards keeping Intel at bay, with thier law suite.
You don't honestly believe that, do you? I mean that lawsuit is the biggest joke I've ever heard of. I don't even think that AMD intends to win it. I think, if anything, this is just a new form of marketing to them. I mean look how much press it's gotten compared to traditional marketing. Win or lose they've already benefitted enormously. And honestly, their chances of winning are pretty slim. Even some of the retailers that should be on AMD's side (if AMD's claims are true) are pissed with AMD for their wild allegations
What the JFTC found was that Intel had severly limited, or reduced Amd's ability to sell chips in Japan. If the lawsuite hinders or diseudes Intel from using those tactics elseware, Amd may find itself in a better marketing environment.
endyen wrote:
and hostile takeovers initiated by Intel.
Not even remotely likely. (And quite possibly not even possible because of anti-monopoly law.) Maybe from the likes of IBM or VIA , but definately not Intel
I said initiated by Intel, not executed by Intel. If Mikey wont do it for them, well a hefty down payment to a company to supply them with the chipset chips they seem to be running out of, seems like a likely senario.
 

slvr_phoenix

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They have been working hard at getting the opteron recognized by the business comunity. Since they are also the largest market for desktop systems as well, that seems smart to me.
As I stated before, sometimes being at the top isn't about being smart, but about being the less stupid of those trying. AMD's engineers are fairly smart. AMD's management isn't. Luckily for AMD, Intel seems to have the same problem, just on a larger scale.

IIRC, they did try then, but for some reason ( sabotage by Intel is the most common speculation) they had to deal with a shareholer's revolt.
I highly doubt that it was sabotage. In my experience, shareholders are stupid. They don't know a quarter as much as they think they do. Most of them are only in it for the money, not for the business itself. So anyone who bows down to shareholder pressure instead of doing what is right for the company is bad for the company. Going public is one of the worst things that a company can do, but if they do it, they have to be prepared to do what's right, not what looks good to the shareholders for the next quarter, or else the company suffers badly. Because shareholders will almost always want the company to do bad things. That's not sabotage, that's simply being a publicly traded company.

I did mean white room, and assembely people, who require a lot of training, before they can work on chips. It's not like they could go and grab anyone off the steets of Dresden.
Sorry, thought you meant R&D skills. If it's in the interest of improving production, as you're specifying now, then it's good. Obviously, since they're setting up new FAB space, they must be doing this, even if I haven't caught any actual names in the news yet. But I still stand that right now if it's in the interest of R&D, it's bad for them because it's the wrong time.

What the JFTC found was that Intel had severly limited, or reduced Amd's ability to sell chips in Japan.
Right. In Japan, according to Japanese law. AMD's suit isn't in Japan. The US has very different laws in that regard. Mostly because the US is a very different culture.

If the lawsuite hinders or diseudes Intel from using those tactics elseware, Amd may find itself in a better marketing environment.
1) It won't, because, again, that was Japan and this is the US. The practices that were found to be illegal in Japan are allowed in the US. The only way that AMD can win the case is if they can actually prove something much more serious than that. (And so far, according to their own documents, they can't.)

2) Marketing is AMD's second biggest flaw. (Production being their first.) If AMD actually marketted their product for a change then they wouldn't even be in their position. Intel may make mediocre chips right now, but they market (especially to OEMs) well.

I said initiated by Intel, not executed by Intel. If Mikey wont do it for them, well a hefty down payment to a company to supply them with the chipset chips they seem to be running out of, seems like a likely senario.
Seems like a ludicrous conspiracy scenario. And you know why? Because Intel wants AMD around. AMD is what protects Intel from an awful lot of monopoly proceedings. Oh, sure, Intel wants AMD to fall on their face and do badly, but they still want AMD to be around, at a nice small market share. So Intel isn't going to do anything like that to make AMD go away.

A much more realistic scenario, again would be the likes of IBM or VIA, competitors in markets that AMD is in, swallowing up a weakened AMD ... should AMD ever grow weak enough to be swallowed up. In fact VIA has even been on a buyout kick in the last few years.

But again, Intel doesn't want to eat up AMD because then they'd be an undeniable monopoly. And Intel doesn't want AMD to vanish for the same reason, since almost all of AMD's market share would instantly go to Intel. As weird as it sounds, Intel needs AMD. VIA and Transmeta aren't doing a good enough job as competition. DEC got eaten, and their CPU killed off. Cyrix got eaten. The IBM/Apple side is a questionable defense at best. Intel needs AMD if they want to keep their head out of the government's anti-monopoly noose.
 

xall

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As I stated before, sometimes being at the top isn't about being smart, but about being the less stupid of those trying. AMD's engineers are fairly smart. AMD's management isn't. Luckily for AMD, Intel seems to have the same problem, just on a larger scale.

Hmm.. i think iagree with that... :roll:
 

Grey_Beard

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I don't know why but here in lebanon AMD has 0.01% of the market. (mostly Durons)
Every retailer here thinks AMD is an intel knock off he'd say "I'm selling you original intel not AMD and the likes". thats retailers, not buyers. if I ask a shop:"do you have AMDs' " he will reply "now why would you want a CPU that is not compatable with lots of software?". I try to stay calm at this point.
Now I know its a three million people small country but it's a sample of neibouring countries. besides, it's an access point to neibouring countries. Due to it's free market policy.
now I've been postponding an upgrade for months now waiting for someone to bring X2s or 100 opterons but it doesn't seem to be happening soon.
isn't this a huge managment/marketing failer? intel's makes seminars to retailers all the time here. and our market is big almost every other house has a PC.
Having said that I'm not willing to pay an extra 15% due to marketing expenses.