iPad triggering PC sales slowdown, memory overstocks?
updated 08:50 am EDT, Tue September 7, 2010
Samsung says PC slowdown, iPad sparking RAM glut
Samsung on Tuesday warned that a slowdown in computer sales was close to triggering an oversupply of RAM. While the company's semiconductor head Kwon Oh-hyun said that phones and servers were keeping the supply-and-demand balance "stable," a continued slowdown of the PC business could create a glut in the fall or in the winter. Prices had already started falling in July after Greece's debt problems and an overall unexpected economic slowdown.
The lowered computer demand may stem directly from the iPad. As the device can often achieve subjectively similar or better performance to a netbook but with just a quarter of the RAM, 256MB versus the standard netbook's 1GB, even large volumes of tablet shipments wouldn't necessarily make up for the gap.
Samsung is also reported to be facing shrinking netbook sales in some areas, owing in part to Apple's tablet taking customers away; ASUS has supposedly seen a similar effect on Eee PCs. For Samsung, the Galaxy Tab would help accommodate this by giving customers a tablet within its own lineup.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
I'd say there's probably just a generalized
slowdown of computer sales caused by a weak economy. They keep assuming it's the iPad that's causing this. Apple stock sure isn't moving like it's disrupting the industry. iPads can't be displacing that many netbook sales.