PC makers hunt for gold in Internet hookups
Article Abstract:
PC manufacturers are seeking Internet services revenue to counter the industry's weakening prices and demand. Companies such as Compaq and HP are reaching revenue-sharing agreements with ISPs based on customer use of computers. Conditions also call for the PC makers to add quick-access Internet features as well feature their partners's Web sites and services prominently. An example is Compaq, whose 1998 consumer desktop PCs contain four new Internet buttons that automatically link users to America Online, GTE.net, Amazon.com and Walt Disney's online store. Compaq in return receives an undisclosed portion of all such sales. PC makers hope the keyboard reconfiguration will facilitate Internet use and enable them to capitalize on the promising online service business market. Executives believe that online services could generate 15% to 25% of their consumer revenue within a few years, compared to the current 95% from hardware sales.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1998
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Player vs. player vs. player vs. player...; Online games now allow people to battle hundreds of strangers, rather than just go one-on-one against the PC
Article Abstract:
Online multiplayer games are the hottest trend in the gaming industry, with the success of id Software's Quake, a 3D search-and-destroy gore fest as a model. Researchers predict that online games will be used in 7.2 million US households, compared with just 100,000 in 1996. Interactive games evolved from all-text Internet-based role playing 'dungeons', where users determined the course of the game by typing commands. Graphics-intensive games require software which links to an online gaming service. Many games allow customization of the environment and give players a space to map out strategies. Analysts see the sports metaphor as appropriate for online gaming; computer games that do not fit the competitive mold may not be successful. SimCity, a popular strategy game, did not fare well in its initial online incarnation.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1997
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Compaq to hire 2,000 sales people in '97; customer-contact effort aims at helping in duel with direct marketers
Article Abstract:
Compaq plans to hire 2,000 sales people with the hope that it will increase its customer contacts. Eckhard Pfeiffer, Compaq's CEO, believes it is the company's distance from its customers that gives its competitors in the direct market an advantage. Gateway, which Compaq has tried twice to acquire, and Dell have been increasing their market share faster than Compaq has. Compaq's goal in acquiring Gateway was to establish a better connection between itself and the people buying its computers. In early May 1997, Pfeiffer met with around 30 of its distributor's executives to discuss cost cutting plans that entail manufacturing computers based on orders rather than on market forecasts. Compaq would like to improve its customer relations by creating sales and service forces to serve consumers.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1997
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