b2l, german's and other europeans a bit more in general have much less loyalty to Intel as it's not their company, it's not their icon like it is somewhat for Americans, the brand is just not nearly as much part of their culture. They care about quality for money. Simple? No, not exactly as when Intel would have been a german company they'd definitely be more inclined to buy Intel products, because the germans (as well as a lot of other big european nations) like buying their 'own' products (just like Americans to some extent). So more completely German's buy quality for money as long as their loyalty is not skewed too much in favor of the company with the weaker product offering. Just my perception ofcourse.
As for marketing AMD has long, out of necessity, been loyal to the channel. And germans have bought from the channel based on quality for money. Considering everything it amounted to a bit of a grass roots approach for AMD.
So bit by bit the perception of AMD has become one of offering good quality for money. For me it feels like this perception is more widely spread here among the common folks than in the US.
AMD's presence in Dresden helps with this, but is of secundary importance if you ask me because AMD has for a longtime already - for years before Dresden was in the picture - been a lot more successful in Europe than in the US.
Lastly I have a feeling that Intel's strongarming tactics for as far as that concerns consumer products backfire more easily in Europe than in the US, maybe because Intel has been conditioning the market longer in the US (I don't really know this point), and probably also because perception of AMD and Intel might be different, and also because of a bigger percentage of the white box market.
Hope this resonates with some people here. If not pls shoot.
Regards,
Rink
