13
Computer Price Wars
13.1 AN INFLECTION POINT IN THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY
The statement has been made in Chapter 12 that there is nothing scientific in product pricing. In years of “business as usual” companies try to rationalize the price list of their products, and at the same time capitalize on market inefficiencies. But major market changes, often induced by technology, have a snowball effect leading to an inflection point where price wars become all inevitable.
With computers, this happened in 1977, a change in industry pricing practices promoted by the plug-compatible manufacturers. The saga started with Project M by Japan’s Hitachi and Fujitsu who were at the time the country’s foremost companies in industrial electronics,* and ...
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