« Some Digital Camera Prices Drop As Other Retail Tech Hints At Recovery | Main | Sony’s LCD Premium Gets Discounted »
Processor Price Drop Striking At Core Of Tech Recovery?
Computers | Apr 27, 09
A recent resumption of a slide in the pricing of a key microprocessor could indicate that recovery in the market for technology goods is still some time off.
As we note in today’s press release, PriceSCAN’s Intel Core 2 Quad Index dropped 3% last week, ending a period of relative stability that began in early February following a precipitous 13% fall in January. As a critical component of many personal computers, the Core 2 Quad’s price deterioration may reflect further weakening in the PC market.
To be sure, there are non-macroeconomic reasons why the market for PCs and the chips that make them tick could be less than animated. Anticipation of the new version of Windows could prompt buyers to put off purchases, and there’s been no recent “killer app” demanding markedly higher processing power. Given this backdrop, in the current economic environment, it’s hard to imagine a consumer worried about his or her job and house value feeling a burning need to run out and buy a machine with a somewhat more advanced chip set.
We’ve been observing some signs of technology price stabilization recently (see “Camcorders Now Featuring Both Image And Price Stabilization,” “A Wireless Route To Recovery?” and “A Blu-ray Of Light In The Retail Darkness?”). but weakness in some digital camera prices (“Some Digital Camera Prices Drop As Other Retail Tech Pricing Hints At Recovery”) and now in a key processor could be telling us that a true firming in the retail tech space will be slow and sporadic in its emergence.
Posted by jeffrey.trester (Permalink)
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.pricescan.com/mtsystem/mt-tb.cgi/227
