Intel Corp (INTC)

[ibc]

In the PC world, most of the margin goes to Intel and Microsoft. The OEM has very little say.

Everyone decries the lack of innovation in PCs, but who is to blame? It's not like Acer or whoever can innovate with their 1% operating margin. It's just too much R&D cost to risk. Monopoly dynamics made it a cake walk for Intel and Microsoft to decree what features will be implemented and on what schedule they determined.

They also risk losing Intel and Microsoft marketing dollars if they deviate too much.

Look at the whole "ultrabook" and "touch" initiatives. It's as if somebody drafted the strategy in an afternoon and decided to run with it without any kind of consumer assessment. Then, when it was clear it was failing , they decided to double down. Nuts.

The exception here is obviously Apple. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader on why they succeed in PCs where others fail.