PC sellers face bleak Christmas

PC RETAILERS are having to cut prices and do deals over the next few months if they do not want to be stuck with shedloads of left-over inventory this Christmas, analysts have warned.

Computer sales didn't live up to expectations over the summer and analysts predict shoppers will cut spending even more drastically.

Analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies said computer makers are feeling panicky and wondering if they'll even make it through October without slashing prices.

He told News.com that people with a lot of money are still going to come out and buy whatever they want. But most are going to be looking for deals.

He thinks profits are too thin for serious price cuts but companies are likely to offer more package deals that include free software or hardware add-ons to make more expensive machines look like a better deal.

Netbooks are being seen as the way out for many PC makers. They are cheap and also have a lot of the functions of laptops.

Richard Klugman, a consumer electronics analyst for New York-based Majestic Research, said that netbooks will stay hot whatever happens to the economy. µ

L'Inq
News.com