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***IBM Cuts Digital Music Delivery Deal
(November 27)
The Content Factory reports that the record labels including Sony, Warner Music and EMI Group have reportedly inked an agreement with IBM to participate in a system for digital delivery of music. The so-called Madison Project is set to start next year, London's Financial Times reported. IBM is said to have invested $20 million to allow consumers to download music from the Internet.
***Sega's Dreamcast Is Released in Tokyo
(November 27)
Reuters reports that individuals were lined up before dawn Friday to buy Sega's new 128-bit home-use Dreamcast game player. Sega forecasted that the initial shipments of 150,000 units would be sold out in a few days. About 500 people lined up early in the morning to buy the new game player in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district. Retailers had orders for some 100,000 units in just the first two days after starting to accept orders on October 20.
The system is retailing for 29,800 yen ($242). It is the first home video game player with network capability.
Sega plans shipments of 500,000 units of Dreamcast this year, and to sell one million units by the end of March. It had to scale down initial shipment plans of one million units for this year due to a delay in supplies of graphics chips produced by NEC Corp. and VideoLogic Group Plc of Britain.
Sega President Shoichiro Irimajiri said earlier this month his company was looking to sell 10 million Dreamcast units in Japan within three to four years. It would break even on Dreamcast if it sold about three million units.
The Sega spokesman said: "We have the big advantage of releasing the next-generation of machines well ahead of rivals. By the time Sony launches a new PlayStation model, we will be have retail know-how and become more price competitive through cost-cutting." "Our goal is to capture a 50 percent share of the global market," he said. At the end of March, Sony's 32-bit PlayStation enjoyed a 55 percent global share, followed by 30 percent for Nintendo's 64-bit Nintendo64. Sega's 32-bit Sega Saturn console, Dreamcast's predecessor, had only a 15 percent share amid poor sales overseas.
A game industry analyst at a foreign brokerage house said: "It's hard to bet on whether Dreamcast will be a success or failure at the moment. At least for this year and the next, sales would remain robust, led by so-called core users."
Sega plans to raise the number of Dreamcast game software titles to around 30 by the end of March from the current four titles, including Virtual Fighters and Godzilla Generations. The company said that by the time of Dreamcast's planned debut in the United States and in Europe in the fall of 1999, it would be able to prepare a solid software line-up.
The fact that many lined up to buy many units in Japan on the first day of sale means practically nothing. By US standards the price is high and we are unlikely to see the same rush to purchase. Sega still has a formidable challenge ahead in seeking to get the right combination of killer titles, a competitive price and an effective launch strategy. It is against a very strong Sony. Sega is not what is once was.
***Thomson Entertainment To Offer Financing Package (November 27)
Thomson Entertainment has agreed on a means of customer equipment financing with US-based finance house, First Sierra Financial Inc.
Amounts of up to US$75,000 are available to companies established for more than two years based on completing a simple credit application form. Sums of more than US$75,000 are also available but may require a more detailed financial submission.
Applicants can expect a response within 48 hours for transactions under $75,000 and 3 to 5 days for larger amounts. Initially, this program is only available for US customers, but if it proves successful it could be extended more widely.
Various structures and terms are available to meet the specific needs of entertainment attraction businesses, such as seasonal revenue swings. These include:
Seasonal payment structures.
Delayed initial periods before commencement of contract payments.
Graduated payment structures.
Finance and lease contracts designed to meet tax goals and needs.
***Big Planet Supports IP Telephony with Aplio (November 2)
Big Planet announced that it will be selling the Aplio/Phone. It is a stand-alone Internet telephony appliance in it works without a PC and connects to a regular telephone as easily as an answering machine.
The phone works by dialing the other party as usual, and once the connection is made, press the "APLIO" button to reroute the call over the Internet. This enables users to converse over the Internet instead of over long distance lines. Using the Aplio/Phone and a standard telephone at each end, businesses and individuals who frequently place long distance calls to the same locations can reroute their calls over the Internet.
Aplio/Phone is an Internet appliance with a built-in processor and modem, Flash RAM and hardware-based, full-duplex voice compression.
Aplio/Phone Features:
Digital sound quality: A Quality-Enhancer monitors Internet traffic and adjusts the sound compression to optimize audio quality.
One-button activation: No computer or keyboard.
Pre-arranged calls can connect on the Internet without the initial long distance call.
Find Me!: Wherever users are logged onto the Internet, callers can reach them by simply dialing a unique Aplio ID. Callers don't need a phone number.
***Getting Off the 3D Dime - It's Time to Move Beyond Games to 3D Dollars
At 4th Wave we have long spoken of the need for enterprise 3D applications. When the 3D canyon (WAVE #839) gets filled maybe some money can be made in 3D. At COMDEX we saw the best signs of progress in this area by three companies. However, we were discouraged by the picture being painted by these developers and the support they are receiving from the chip, card and OEMs. We will first review the companies and their products.
***iDREAM
Its product REALISM 3D brings the drag and drop concept to 3D environment construction. It supports smart objects, lighting, materials and images with mouse movements. Anti-aliasing, bilinear filtering, prospective correction, lit textures and smooth shading are also supported. There is also collision detection and gravity effects in the scenes. Multiple independent light sources can also be included in scenes. Behaviors include spin, grow, orbit and move. The package includes 1000 intelligent models and is available on line for $99. The MSRP is $149.
The underlying 3D technology behind REALISM will be surfacing in much more robust forms in the next 4 - 5 months. Watch for more from iDREAM. We were impressed with the depth they are using 3D within the DirectX API.
iDREAM has another product Jio for creating visual e-commerce sites. Customers can assemble products to their own needs. Examples shown include clothing and pizza's to the customer desires. Jio is a set of Web components that includes: Jio applet which is a set of Java based classes; Jio builder for creating the content and interface; and iBuild which is a tool set to construct pick up and take contents from a Web site. The product ships in December and costs $14,995 for a single server license.
***Lomasoft
The 3D interface to Visio has finally arrived. 3D ShapeView allows one to work within Visio in both a 2D and 3D world. Fully integrated into Visio Technical it adds a totally new level of depth to the product. One can translate at 2D scene with a one button click to 3D. The product has color control, camera views, and pre-made models with lighting coming in the future. A point stressed by Lomasoft is that this product must be dimensionally accurate for work within Visio. 3D ShapeView is to be released in December and pricing in the $295 range. There will also be a set of developer tools for VARs and furniture manufactures.
***Portola Dimensional Systems
The WAVE Report has long been strong on Portola's visualization product. They have shifted the focus of the company to enterprise visualization and were showing Coronado and how it supports Microsoft's SQL 7 and OLAP. It is now possible to visually see the OLAP hierarchy and drag and drop data base elements into the visual space to be analyzed.
The product is priced at $395.
***The Dark Side
All three of the companies spoke of the critical issues they face in developing enterprise 3D applications - to varying levels of detail. One was more supportive of the others on the assistance they have received but in general the picture was not a good one.
Key issues include:Poor Drivers
One company is using Permedia II drivers that are 6 months old because newer drivers are worse. Because the chip companies are focusing on games they have not spent adequate time on driver quality outside of the game market. As a result, when these companies stress the feature set of the cards not frequently used but fully supported by DirectX, the drivers prove inadequate and in some cases totally unacceptable. In general, the view was that it is hard to find stable drivers. Another compliant was that when a feature set is used from DirectX 6 that the output quality varies across implementations for different chips. When these companies seek to have the same look of the imagery from card to card it is frustrating to see differences in what should be the same. Thus, the developers are faced with tuning the application on a chip by chip or card by card basis. This certainly has not been the objective of Microsoft. For example, one ISV stated that the 3D mesh support in today's 3D cards "is just not there."Terrible ISV Support
As general rule the 3D chip companies are doing a poor job of supporting developers, at least the non-game developers. One went so far as to say " they all fail." Further when these companies request cards they are either hard to get or they get no response. The real issue with the chip companies is that one would expect that that would want their products work on non-game applications. However, with either no or poor ISV support it only implies they do not care about this market.The OEMs are Worse
As a key part of the computer industry, with the greatest interest in the success of enterprise 3D applications, one would expect that OEMs would be on top of the ISV support issue. The reasoning is simple - if the IT department sees that 3D is driving the purchase of new systems the OEMs would seem to want to make sure their systems have the best performance. Yet, we heard over and over again how these applications find the PC 3D platform as sorely inadequate. One stated that even with AGP this is not a solution to enterprise 3D applications. The problems lie beyond just a given computer and extend into real time links with DCOM, for example. Thus, if 3D is to fit within the enterprise it must also support the enterprise network.We heard multiple times where these companies contacted OEMs for systems or support the message that came back was either (1) that the OEMs did not care about this market or (2) they would not even return phone calls. For example, one called two different individuals at Dell with a simple request and the phone calls were not even returned.
If these applications reach mainstream deployment there must be portable/laptop support for 3D. Yet, today this is anemic at best. This is a chip company and OEM issue. As one stated it "nobody has their act together on the mobil needs for 3D." This need is again not about games but serious use of 3D.
What struck us on the COMDEX floor was the relative uniformity of complaints by these ISVs. Each expressed it slightly differently and, as we said before, one was more positive that the other two. But the issue is clear. If 3D is to penetrate the enterprise and break this dismal syndrome of "its only games" mentality those doing business applications need the full support of the industry. Where are the Dell's, Compaq's, H-P's and IBM's? Our sense is that they are clueless. This is not about selling workstations for MCAD. This is a business opportunity that has the potential of providing a rich opportunity for those OEMs that leverage the situation - especially since most seem to ignore it.
The chip companies also need to get off the game dime. What is at stake is a scalable 3D market - one where the IT department pays for 3D based on its value to the organization. There will be many more software companies pushing this envelope and these are but the early pioneers. Now is the time to get the ISV programs in place that do more than service game developers. Here NVIDIA has shown a lead position with its new program announced at COMDEX. This is more than just a press release as we did get very positive feedback on this program from one software company.
We asked each company for an e-mail contact who is knowledgeable and seeking to work with the industry. We appreciate the confidence they have showed in the WAVE Report. Contact them only if your are interesting in taking action.
Lomasoft: industry@lomasoft.com
iDREAM: stevep@idreamsoftware.com
Portola: mcgraw@portolasystems.com
***PLATINUM technology announces solutions for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (November 16)
PLATINUM technology announced application development, database management, and data warehousing solutions for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0.
Among the key issues PLATINUM addresses are:
· Database design - PLATINUM ERwin enables administrators to "blueprint" their databases to ensure consistency, reuse, and integration of enterprise data.
· Database administration - PLATINUM Enterprise DBA enables administrators to manage heterogeneous databases across an entire organization, and includes capabilities to schedule tasks for execution during off-peak hours. This streamlines administration of multiple, distributed databases that require constant maintenance for 24 x 7 availability.
· Data transformation and movement - PLATINUM extends the capabilities of SQL Server 7.0's Data Transformation Services (DTS) with PLATINUM DecisionBase. PLATINUM DecisionBase is a metadata-based transformation and movement tool that helps IT organizations accelerate data warehouse creation.
· Data warehouse management - PLATINUM Intelligent Warehouse provides functionality that addresses performance and tuning, security management, scalability/integration, and multiple subject querying.
· Decision support - PLATINUM provides decision support to allow access to and analysis of information in the data warehouse. PLATINUM Forest & Trees enables organizations to deliver web-based decision support applications that use 3D Data Visualization.A number of PLATINUM products support SQL Server 7.0 immediately. The balance of PLATINUM's products is scheduled for availability during the first half of 1999.
***Intel and Neon Technology announce Intel Pentium Based Internet Set-Top Box (November 19)
Intel and Neon Technology announced an Intel Pentium based Internet set-top box with support for ADSL and Ethernet.
It is Designed around the Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology, chipset and flash memory.
All of Neon Technology's set-top products feature web browsing and electronic mail. The browser supports HTML 3.2 with frames, tables and Javascript. SSL 3.0 is supported for secure e-commerce and RealNetworks' RealPlayer 5.0 is supported for streaming audio and video.
Founded in 1995, Neon Technology, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet appliances that enable customers to access and benefit from the Internet. Neon's standards-based, open architecture approach provides an easy alternative for consumers looking to access the Internet at a minimal cost.
***ATI Selects Cadabra's Automated Transistor Layout Tools (November 23)
Cadabra Design Technology announced that ATI Technologies has licensed Cadabra's CLASSIC-SC standard cell layout software.
CLASSIC-SC is a suite of automated transistor layout (ATL) tools. By using CLASSIC-SC, customers can begin their library design efforts before foundry rules are finalized.
CLASSIC is a suite of ATL tools that automate the creation of transistor-level GDSII layouts from SPICE netlists. CLASSIC dramatically increases a designer's productivity-producing handcrafted quality layouts in a fraction of the time of manual design. CLASSIC-SC is the leading ATL tool for creating standard cell library layouts. CLASSIC-MC, CLASSIC-IO, and CLASSIC-GA automate layout of macrocells, I/O cells, and gate array cells, respectively.
***CARTERRA World Views Product Available for Sale (November 19)
Space Imaging announced the availability of its CARTERRA World Views product.
This satellite imagery, available for the entire continental United States, provides a big picture overview for a variety of commercial and government applications.
CARTERRA World Views provides a wide-area, comprehensive view of the entire U.S. at 180-meter resolution. The color imagery is available for the U.S. or as smaller subsets covering a region or state, and can be packaged with separate files containing graphical overlays of state boundaries, interstate highways, and state capitals. The product gives customers the flexibility to order satellite imagery in new, more versatile ways.
Two color versions of the product are available: One version is sold as a "natural" color image and the other is sold as a color image taken by the satellite in the red or near-infrared bands. Natural color imagery provides a true representation of Earth features as the human eye sees them, while infrared imagery provides additional information about vegetation, such as drought characteristics.
CARTERRA World Views imagery is cloud-free and color-balanced for maximum distinction of detail.
CARTERRA World Views images are delivered via CD-ROM as TIFF and GeoTIFF files accompanied by graphical overlays. Pricing ranges from $750 to $25,000 depending on whether the product covers a state, region or the entire continental U.S. Price also varies according to state size. The product can be ordered by either calling the Customer Service Center at 800-232-9037 in the U.S. or 303-552-0537 worldwide, or by logging on to Space Imaging's Web site and downloading a form that can be filled out and emailed or faxed to Customer Service.
***Space Imaging announces CARTERRA 3D (November 19)
Space Imaging announced CARTERRA 3D which allows one to "fly" in a three-dimensional perspective to visualize a variety of Earth features.
CARTERRA 3D is created by combining two-dimensional imagery of the Earth with elevation information and packaging it with a 3D software product, TerraExplorer.
CARTERRA 3D, offered as part of Space Imaging's CARTERRA line of satellite and aerial imagery products, is currently offered in a variety of resolutions, or levels of visible detail in the imagery. The one-meter, five-meter, 20-meter, 25-meter and 180-meter resolution satellite imagery of virtually every corner of the world is collected by Space Imaging's constellation of imaging satellites.
CARTERRA 3D is orthorectified, or processed to an accuracy suitable for applications such as mapping and analysis. The minimum area covered in a standard product is the size of a U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle, or about 50 square miles. However, areas larger than a quadrangle can be mosaicked according to customer requirements.
Used as a visualization tool, CARTERRA 3D can help city planners determine whether and where to place a road network, shopping center, housing development or park. The interactive flight-like capabilities of the software provide the customer with a method of viewing the Earth. Uses range from analyzing the potential impact of new developments on the environment to creating computer games.
CARTERRA 3D is delivered to customers via CD-ROM and is compatible with MMX Pentium Personal Computers running Windows 95 or 98. Pricing for CARTERRA 3D ranges from $49 to $699 depending on whether the customer has previously ordered 2D digital ortho quad imagery and simply needs an upgrade, whether the customer is ordering the product for the first time, and whether the imagery is in color or black-and-white. The product can be ordered by either calling the Space Imaging Customer Service Center at 800-232-9037 in the U.S. or 303-552-0537 worldwide, or by logging on to Space Imaging's Web site and downloading a form that can be filled out and emailed or faxed to Customer Service.
Space Imaging is a leading supplier of space imagery, aerial photography, mapping services, and derivative geographic information products and services.
***Worlds Inc. Announces 'Worlds Ultimate 3D Chat Plus...'
(November 23)
Worlds Inc. announced 'Worlds Ultimate 3D Chat Plus...'. The user of 'Worlds Ultimate 3D Chat Plus...' has the ability to select an avatar (one's alter ego character) for self-representation on the Internet. Once selected, through his or her avatar, the user can then move into and out of different environments .
The Worlds 3D Internet browser is proprietary Included is the Worlds Avatar Gallery and Worlds Gallery of Metamorphics. The Avatar Gallery contains over 100 different avatars, including more than 70 that are polygonal and are user controlled for performing more than 17 different actions and behaviors, including walking, waving, nodding yes and no, flipping, twirling, expressing happiness and anger, doing funky and rockin' roll dances and even flying in cyberspace, among other gestures.
Worlds has just begun taking orders for 'Worlds Ultimate 3D Chat Plus...' on its web site at www.worlds.com. As part of the product launch and for a limited time, the basic service, including the CD, is priced at $9.95 for a one year membership to Worlds newest online community.
***Sigma Designs NetStream 2tv
(November 17)
Sigma Designs announced the availability of NetStream 2tv.
The configured version of NetStream 2 incorporates a VGA-to-TV "scan converter" chip that enables users to display streaming video on a television set at resolutions up to 1024x768 pixels-without the need for a VGA monitor.
NetStream 2tv also provides a second TV output "mode" which can be switched into place to display full-screen MPEG video using direct MPEG-to-TV output. With this mode enabled, users have a display of video on TV sets. This output uses a 10-bit DAC. A software utility makes it possible to toggle between these two modes with a single mouse click. The utility can also be easily incorporated into the Web-based applications that customers use to create streaming video applications.
A plug-and-play solution, NetStream 2tv features a PCI architecture for easy integration in Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 environments. The MPEG-2 playback card is also compatible with third-party applications, including video servers for video-on-demand, MPEG encoders for stored or real-time playback, satellite delivery systems, streaming video playback systems, and hundreds of customizable interactive training titles.
NetStream 2tv supports Microsoft's DirectShow 2.0 API with DirectShow-compatible MPEG-2 drivers, and is fully compatible with the same MPEG-2 streaming video products supported by the standard NetStream 2 product. These include: the Silicon Graphics MediaBase Video Server, the Oracle Video Server, Microsoft's NetShow Theater video server, InfoValue QuickVideo Suite video server and live video broadcast solution, FVC.COM's V-Cache video server and VCaster broadcast solution, the Minerva VNP broadcast encoder and NEC's HyperMS video server. NetStream 2tv is delivered with the Microsoft DirectShow Player, an easy-to-use ActiveX control which can be embedded inside Web pages and Visual Basic applications.
Designed to deliver live video playback with absolutely no skipping or jerkiness, NetStream 2tv uses a precision variable clock (VCXO) to lock the NetStream decoder to the frame rate of the broadcast encoder. This ensures that no audio or video frames are dropped or duplicated. To minimize CPU overhead, NetStream 2tv uses PCI DMA bus transfer, rather than programmed I/O. Video and audio decompression and playback are both performed by on-board hardware.
The on-board hardware also decodes and plays Dolby Digital (AC-3) and Pro Logic 5:1 channel surround sound with 16-bit, 20-bit, and 24-bit stereo output.
NetStream 2tv is available from resellers and distributors, including Ingram Micro and TechData. NetStream 2tv has a MSRP of $399.
***Diamond Multimedia Joins Digital Media Association (November 23)
Diamond Multimedia announced that it has joined the Digital Media Association (DiMA).
Diamond Multimedia will unite with the efforts of other organizations, such as Liquid Audio, a2b, TCI Music, and SonicNet, to support the development and acceptance of digital technologies, products and services that provide opportunities for both owners and consumers of audio and audiovisual content.
DiMA's goal is to address those issues that include the protection of intellectual property rights and payment of fair and reasonable royalties associated with those rights, opposition to technical and legal barriers that inhibit innovation or adoption of new technologies, and promotion of products that enable consumer use of new industry developments, particularly on the Internet.
***Forrester: Growth Spiral in On-Line Retail Sales Will Generate $108 Billion in Revenues by 2003 (November 19)
Broad consumer acceptance and retailer ambitions will combine to fuel a rapid growth spiral in on-line retail sales. This spiral will drive more than 40 million U.S. households to shop on-line by 2003, producing $108 billion revenues. According to a new Report from Forrester Research, on-line retail sales will account for 6% of U.S. consumer retail spending in the United States by 2003.
By the end of 1998, nearly 9 million U.S. households will have shopped on-line for travel services and retail goods other than automobiles, generating $7.8 billion in on-line sales. These numbers will grow rapidly over the next five years as consumers overcome security and privacy concerns and embrace the convenience of Web shopping. Unable to resist a rapidly expanding pool of consumers, retailers will dramatically increase their on-line product selection.
The on-line retail market can be divided into three broad categories: convenience items, researched purchases, and replenishment goods. Convenience items are low-cost, discretionary purchases like books, music, apparel, and flowers. Deep product selection, easy shipping, and merchant promotions will keep convenience items a favorite with consumers, leading to sales of more than $32 billion by 2003.
Researched purchases are information-driven, planned purchases like airline tickets and computers. Travel represents the single largest category today and will reach nearly $30 billion in sales by 2003. Meanwhile, consumer electronics and housewares will gain momentum as retailers offer more products on the Web. By 2003, consumers will spend more than $56 billion on researched purchases.
Replenishment goods-moderate-cost, high-frequency purchases like groceries and personal care-will be slow to win broad consumer acceptance. With the exception of specialty foods and prescription refills, this category will be hampered by the lack of a feasible distribution model. By 2003, replenishment goods will account for $19 billion in sales.
In the process of studying consumers' on-line shopping behavior, Forrester found that first-time buyers tend to purchase convenience items like software and books. Over time, they progress to more complex purchases that demand research and consideration, with only the most experienced shoppers buying replenishment goods. It currently takes a year for on-line shoppers to progress from one category to the next, but Forrester believes that over the next five years, consumers will move through the three categories more quickly as they become familiar with the Web and merchants improve the on-line shopping experience.
For the Report, "Retail's Growth Spiral," Forrester interviewed 100 North American on-line merchants across 11 retail categories. This information was supplemented with insights about consumers' on-line behaviors and intentions gained from Forrester's Consumers & Technographics Technographics '98 Field Study of 120,000 North American households.
***SkyBridge Hails FCC Decision
(November 24)
SkyBridge Limited Partnership, praised last Thursday's decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to open a proceeding on rules for SkyBridge-type non-geostationary fixed satellite systems that will deliver advanced broadband data services throughout the world.
SkyBridge-which plans to launch a constellation of 80 non-geostationary satellites-intends to provide worldwide data services, such as Internet access, by using Ku-band spectrum on a shared basis with existing geostationary operators. In a rulemaking request filed last year, SkyBridge asked the FCC to consider rules that would permit this type of operation. Yesterday, a unanimous FCC adopted SkyBridge's rulemaking request.
As it formally opened a rulemaking proceeding, the Commission observed that non-geostationary satellite operations in the Ku-band, as proposed by SkyBridge, would foster the development of new "global high-speed services," with one commissioner declaring that the rulemaking notice "opens the door for more competitors to provide services in the Ku-band ... for the benefit of the American public." The Commission said that its notice acts to implement the decision of the 1997 World radiocommunication Conference to allocate Ku-band spectrum for non-geostationary use-an effort also spearheaded by SkyBridge.
Alcatel is the General Partner of SkyBridge LP. The other partners of SkyBridge include the following group of leading industrial companies: Loral Space & Communications of the United States; Toshiba Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Sharp Corporation of Japan; SPAR Aerospace Limited of Canada; CNES of France; and SRIW, a Belgian investment entity.
Based on a constellation of 80 Low-Earth-Orbiting (LEO) satellites, SkyBridge will deliver global connectivity to business and residential users worldwide with performance comparable to that of future terrestrial broadband technologies:
· downstream speeds of up to 20 Mbps and up to 2 Mbps on the return link per residential user; --3 to 5 times higher bit rates will be provided to business users.As an access system, SkyBridge will complement and extend terrestrial networks and help operators to solve the "last mile" problem by providing an instant broadband connection to users that previously only had narrowband access.
SkyBridge services will be delivered locally through national and regional telecommunications operators and other service providers.
***Survey Finds Lower PC Prices Attracting Mainstream America (November 18)
Forty nine percent of households are expected to have a PC by the end of January 1999 according to a survey of 2,000 households completed November 4, 1998 by MarketMaps, LLC and CENTRIS. Enticed by lower prices, the desire to support the education of their children and the urge to get online 2.3 million households are expected to purchase their first PC between November 1, 1998 and January 31, 1999.
As detailed in the report "Consumer PC Buying Intentions: Holiday '98", 24% of first-time buyers are getting the PC as a gift for someone else and another 7.7% are buying them for someone to take to college.
IBM is the brand mentioned by 17.2% of first-time buyers as the one they are most likely to buy, but Apple is clearly back in the consumer market in a strong way - 10.1% mentioned Apple. Approximately 54% of those considering Apple are first-time buyers citing their perception that it will be the easiest to use. HP, Gateway and Dell are also on first-time buyers' shopping lists.
Other Key Findings:
· First-time buyers plan to spend $1,550 on average for their PC plus two thirds plan to spend an additional $1,000 on average for printers, scanners, software and accessories.
· Approximately half of first-time buyers have household incomes less than $35,000 in part because more are either younger, single or retired than are repeat buyers.
· How to reach them? Page 'em! They're more than twice as likely to have a pager as those not planning to buy.The report: "Consumer PC Buying Intentions: Holiday '98" breaks down buying intentions by First-time vs. Repeat buyer, Family (by children's age) vs. Non-family household plus a variety of demographic and socioeconomic household characteristics.
For a copy of the report contact Bill Ablondi at (203) 966-4992.
***Wind River Reports Third Quarter Revenues (November 19)
Wind River Systems reported operating results for the third quarter ended October 31, 1998.
Total revenues for the third quarter were $33.6 million, a 40% increase from revenues of $24.0 million reported in the same period of fiscal 1998. Operating profit in the third quarter grew 45% to $10.4 million compared to $7.2 million in the corresponding quarter of last year. Net income for the third quarter was $7.2 million, an increase of 38%, compared to net income of $5.2 million for the third quarter in the prior fiscal year. Diluted earnings per share of $0.25 grew 39% from the $0.18 earned in the same period in fiscal 1998.
Total revenues for the nine months ended October 31, 1998 were $91.2 million, a 42% increase from the revenues of $64.4 million reported in the same period of fiscal 1998. Operating profit for the nine months ended October 31, 1998 of $25.1 million reflected a 55% increase over the same period in fiscal 1998. Net income for the nine-month period ended October 31, 1998 was $17.5 million, an increase of 46%, compared to $12.0 million for the same period in fiscal 1998. For the nine months ended October 31, 1998, diluted earnings per share of $0.62 grew 44% from the $0.43 earned in the same period in fiscal 1998.
***Autodesk reports third quarter results(November 19)
Autodesk reported net revenues for the third quarter ended October 31, 1998 of $177.2 million compared to $162.2 million for the same quarter in the previous fiscal year. Net income for the third quarter was $20.7 million, resulting in diluted earnings per share of $0.44. Net income for the same period a year ago was $21.0 million, resulting in diluted earnings per share of $0.41.
During the third quarter the vertical design markets continued to post strong results, with revenues more than doubling year-over-year. Fueled by sales of Mechanical Desktop 3.0, the MCAD group led the performance of the vertical design markets, with revenues increasing nearly five-fold over the previous year. Driven by continued strong demand for AutoCAD Map, sales nearly doubled in the GIS group versus last year. Performance in the AEC group remained consistent, with sales increasing more than 10 percent over last year.
Kinetix and the Personal Solutions group also posted strong gains over last year, with sales increasing to 25 and 35 percent respectively. For the sixth quarter in a row, the AutoCAD brand remained popular, with new seat sales reaching an all-time high.
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