Re: IBM Spin Doctors on AS/400 Marketing

James W. Kilgore wrote:

I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this, but I do get an uneasy
feeling when too much focus is placed on a singular aspect of a broader
picture.  The AS/400 does not represent a significant portion of IBM's
revenues...it could, but it doesn't....so we can only expect so much
from them.
 

    Total hardware sales were flat year over year at
$8.3 billion.  Commercial PC and PC server revenues increased,
while consumer PC sales declined.  RS/6000 revenues were
essentially flat while AS/400 revenues declined.  System/390
revenues were flat due to year over year price declines, although
System/390 shipments grew significantly in the quarter.  Storage
product revenues increased, as did revenues from the company's
semiconductor unit, IBM Microelectronics.
 
    Services revenues were $4.7 billion, a 20 percent increase
from the third quarter of 1996.  Approximately $9 billion in new
services contracts were signed in the quarter.  Services gross
margins increased 2 points year over year.

--
Thank You.

Regards

Dave Mahadevan.. mailto:mahadevan@fuse.net