@Joe - ASP
I don't think, that Intel will go after lower prices overall.
I agree with WBMW and he/she gave reasonable points in a prior
post. Up to now, Intel has a very strong product lineup and
AMD didn't managed to go higher in the last time, which is
and was very disappointing. I'm sure Intel could actually
do more, if they want and if they pressed to do so. But why?
Because of the permanently growing costs and decreasing
margins in the last time for Intel, its clear to me, that
Andy wants to reverse this, no question. Its also clear, that they couldn't
reach this with further price actions, just because their
cash cow Notebooks is under pressure from AMD and server is a
hard field. Whats left? Intel has to rise desktop ASPs and
that means no real aggressive action here. I agree with WBMW
that they fight for every socket in the low end just to make
sure, that they sell all they make. And its also clear, that
AMD has a real problem down the line, if their highest perf.
modell is targeting Intels mid range. It plays for Intel no
question and AMD has to change this - fast. The key points for
me are, that both aren't keen on lowering prices, thats
clear, the real question remains, whether AMD throws volume
at "any price" on the market just to sell out all the new
capacity which will come online. It would cause a price war
in the low-end, which Intel could fight, while keeping their
other products at higher prices. I really don't know, what
AMD plans, but with lower ASPs going forward, its easy to spot,
that AMD will loose money. Their balanced sheet will not look
that nice after the ATI takeover and now losses, damn that
could be a hard time in the near timeframe.