“Labeled the “amazing profit machine” by Forbes magazine, Intel
has a long history of industry domination and spectacular profit
margins. Intel chairman Andy Grove was Time’s 1997 Man of the Year.
As recently as this January, Intel announced record earnings and
revenues. But those halcyon days are gone. Or are they?”
“The secret to Intel’s “profit machine” is to rapidly churn out
ever-faster new chips in high volume and charge a bundle for them.
But chip performance now exceeds the demands of Windows 98. For
many business users, cheaper alternatives are almost as good as
pricey Pentium IIIs. (See our review of PIII- and AMD K6-3-based
PCs in this issue.)”
“Intel’s profitable marriage with Microsoft is clearly on the
rocks-each partner keeps jumping into bed with other companies. For
example, Intel is flirting with operating systems like Linux and
Be. Microsoft, meanwhile, supports non-Intel chips in Windows CE.
In the near future, look for the two giants to clash over
standards, alliances and overlapping markets.”