CI: MMX PCs seize more than 25% of U.S. retail sales in January.

LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 1997--

Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Packard Bell and IBM Dominate First Month

in the Channel

Intel's new MMX chip is meeting with strong initial market acceptance, according to new research from Computer Intelligence (CI), the leading source of fact-based information about the computer and communications industries. New data from CI's January StoreBoard Channel Tracking Service shows that more than one quarter of the desktop PCs sold in U.S. retail channels in January, 1997 were based on the MMX Pentium chip, the newest version of Intel's flagship Pentium microprocessor. MMX technology significantly enhances the performance of multimedia applications written specifically for it.

In the retail channels tracked by StoreBoard, MMX-based desktop PCs accounted for 27 percent of the desktop PCs sold in January. MMX-based PCs had the highest share of desktop PC unit sales in Consumer Electronics Superstores (CES), where they accounted for nearly two out of every five desktops sold. In the other two retail channels tracked by StoreBoard, MMX desktops were a lower but still substantial portion of sales.

MMX PC Share of Desktop Units Sold in January, 1997

Channel                         MMX Share

PC Superstores                     20%
Office Products Superstores        14%
Consumer Electronics Superstores   38%

Total StoreBoard Retail            27%

Source:  CI StoreBoard Channel Tracking, January, 1997

"We thought that some of the softness in consumer PC channels during the fourth quarter of `96 was due to consumers delaying purchases in anticipation of MMX PCs," said David Tremblay, Senior Industry Analyst at CI. "MMX-based PCs were not available until the second week of January. Their success in just the initial few weeks of sales bodes well for a round of upgrade purchases by consumers through the spring."

Some PC manufacturers were more aggressive in their launch of MMX-based PCs than were others. Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Packard Bell and IBM accounted for over 90 percent of the MMX-based desktop PCs sold in StoreBoard's U.S. retail channels in January. CI's research shows that Hewlett Packard sold more MMX-based desktop PCs in January in these channels than they did desktop PCs based on standard Pentium chips.

Computer Intelligence, a Ziff-Davis company, is the leading source of fact-based information for the computer and communications industries. CI's extensive research capabilities provide a wide variety of products and services that help computer and communications companies sell and market more effectively. All of the company's products and services are based on proprietary information databases built and maintained by CI specialists. Headquartered in La Jolla, Computer Intelligence has offices in Cambridge, Mass.; Farmington, Conn.; Sunnyvale, Calif.; Dallas, Tex.; and Europe. Samples of CI's extensive market data and research results, timely commentary from industry authorities and previews of upcoming technology events are available on the company's site on the World Wide Web, http://www.ci.zd.com .

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