News Bits: European Sales, ThinkPad Branding, Asus Memory Rumors, Pentium M Price Cuts

Europeans are Buying Notebooks in Droves

Europeans are better at saving money than Americans, so we'll assume they can afford all these notebooks that sales figures indicate they're buying. According to UK-based market watcher Context, notebook sales are just about to take over the sales of desktop computer sales. Here's a few numbersto indicatehow popular notebooks all of a sudden became in Europe last year:

• In France 40.5% more notebooks were sold in 2004 than in 2003.
• In Spain 33.2% more notebooks were sold in 2004 than in 2003.
• In the UK 7.1% more notebooks were sold in 2004 than in 2003.
• In Germany notebooks attributed to 53.1% of all computer sales
• In Italy notebooks attributed to 62.5% of all computer sales.

If you live anywhere on the map above, chances are you'll buy a notebook instead of a desktop computer

The kicker is that Context only tracks in store sales, so direct sellers like Dell are completely ignored from these numbers, so they might (and likely are) even higher than reflected.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/21/euro_notebook_market_jan_05/

Lenovo to tweak ThinkPad name, new "Lenovo IBM ThinkPads" arriving soon?

The "Access IBM"buttonwill become, not "Access Lenovo" but rather "ThinkVantage"

Lenovo has decided that the ThinkPad will be called the "IBM ThinkPad" for the near term, but they're not sure if in the long term it will become "Lenovo ThinkPad" or just "ThinkPad". Furthermore, the famous "Access IBM" button that sits at the top of all ThinkPad keyboards will become the "ThinkVantage" button.

Reports also indicate that Lenovo/IBM are on the brink of bringing some of the existing Lenovo products to the rest of the world. Could this mean consumer targeted widescreen notebooks from IBM/Lenovo soon? Hmmmm.

More: http://news.com.com/Lenovo+to+tweak+ThinkPad+name/2100-1044_3-5628552.html?tag=nefd.top

Asus to start own-brand memory cards for notebooks

It looks like Asus is going to pull a Sony byproducing its own brand of memory cards for notebooks it sells. Rumor has it that Asus is planning toproduce thesesmall-size flash memory cards for both the OEM and own-brand market. Although the exact details and release schedule of the memory products have not been finalized, the sources hinted that the products will be designed for use with notebooks and mobile phones. Asus has no comments on these rumors.

Asus aims to ship four million notebooks this year, with half of its shipments being own-brand. The estimates thatthe 15.4-inch notebook market will become the mainstream by the second quarter of next year. 15.4-inch Notebookswill havea 31.8% share of notebook sales according to Asus

More: http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20050321A1001.html

Intel Pentium M Price Cuts for July and Intel Pentium M 780 July Release

According to the Inquirer Intel will be slashing prices on its Intel Pentium M chips around the July time frame. This will coincide with a release of their Pentium M 780 2.26GHz processor. There likely won't be any faster processor releases after the Pentium M 780 sees the light of day, but fear not, the fasterdual core Pentium M chips from Intel should arrive January of 2006.

Some example price cuts are that the current Pentium M 770 2.13GHz processor will drop from $637 to $423 and the Pentium M 760 will go from its current price of $423 to $294. These price cuts will surely translate to cheaper notebook prices around August, the back to school sale purchase time.

More: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21998

 

I have lived in Europe for the last 7 years.
There is much more conservative economy in Europe and people tend to splurge less then the Americans.
But when they do, they splurge on more classy highend goods.
Americans like to get maximum value for their $$ and hence you get cheaper but substandard stuff,e.g Wal-mart type.
Laptops in Europe tend to be more upscale,classy and higher speced and ofcourse expensive by US standards.
Same holds true for European cars.

Just my 2- cents worth..

 

interesting take, and it's quite possible the average Euro buyer demands higher quality than a U.S. buyer. Regardless, with the strength of the Euro and Pound relative to the dollar anyone over there will end up paying more for electronics than Americans whether it's high or low quality! I live in New York and it's insane to see the amount of tourists here seemingly buying out electronics stores.

My completely off topic two cents pro-European comment is I that I think the thick cut European bread is much better than stuff that can be bought state-side. [ ]

DigitalCameraReview.com | BargainPDA.com | TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

I have been to the big apple a few time.
Those electronics stores on times square are a complete rip-off, selling outdated stuff at outrageous prices.
And that J&R store? I would not even buy a calculator from them.
I guess its child play to fleece tourists.Happens all over the world [ ]

 

Those price cut figures are amazing!
I guess it's partly becuase AMD has finally decided to concentrate on the mobile market.
+ it's the end of the line for the single core CPU, but I find that cutting prices becuase something new is coming out after 6 months is unlikely.
Or maybe manufacturing yields have become better, after all we never had a significant price drop when we moved from .13 to .09

Anyone has a better reasoning for the 30% expected price drop?

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