CBQ, Inc. (China Business Quotient) (fka CBQI)

[Da !]

Actually, Bix, I am not wrong, you are wrong:

http://www.legend-holdings.com/eng/media/20000926150604_media.html

"It wasn't supposed to be this way. Pre-1996, IBM, Compaq and AST jostled for the top spot in China's PC market. Legend mostly distributed other companies' PCs. But in 1996, Legend got serious about selling PCs. It lowered prices, improved quality and targeted the home market, just beginning to take off."

It may be that IBM's sales in China have increased.

The report you posted shows that IBM's PCs shipped increased from 122,263 to 149,504 from the first half of 1998 to the first half of 1999. That is the 22.3% growth you quoted. But it is not growth in market share. The table clearly shows that IBM's market share increased only from 6.6% in 1998 to 6.7% in 1999. Of course, that is still growth. I can't argue that. But it is nowhere close to 22.3% growth in market share. Try 1.5% grwoth, Bix. And yet only a couple of years before, IBM, Compag and AST jostled for the top spot in China's PC market.

And please note, Bix, that in the USA Today article I posted a link to, the following is mentioned:

"In the last quarter, Legend's market share surged to 23% from 17.3%. Such a gain in one quarter is "unprecedented," says PC analyst Douglas Lee of Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.

At the same time, the combined market share of IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer dropped to 13% from 15.4%. "Legend is eating them for lunch," says Vijay Harjani, PC analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in Hong Kong."

It doesn't sound like IBM is holding its own in the Chinese market, Bix. So if you want to use IBM's success in China as any indication of their ability to defend their position in the U.S., you're off base.

But actually, Bix, I don't think CBQ, Inc. needs to beat IBM to succeed in the U.S. market.