“‘We really want you to reconsider your decision,’ he said.
Clearly, someone had gotten to him.”
That someone, according to this executive, was from Intel–Cyrix’s archrival.
South Korea and Europe have also begun to look into Intel’s tactics.
“Our potential customers are not free to choose on the basis of price and performance.
“Major tier-one customers are unable to serve true market demand.
To do so would run counter to Intel’s dictates.”
Intel has largely eluded the wrath of government agencies as well.
Acase broughtby Federal Trade Commission wassettled in less than a year.
“You just don’t feel violated, like with Microsoft,” one PC industry veteran said.
They do it in a way that won’t stick in court.
But they also have a carrot.
And it’s a powerful and many-faceted carrot.”
But these plans also let them cut engineering budgets and the time required to come to market.
“No deal was too small,” he said.
By contrast, the competition has never been quite as organized.
Disagreements ensued, and the coalition eventually fell apart.
(For its part, IBM has said it did not adopt Transmeta chipsbecause of performance issues.)
Manipulation can also go both ways.
In return, Compaq adopted Cyrix for a few computers.
“It’s not like no one pretends there isn’t competition out there.”
Other business factors that have nothing to do with hardball tactics or antitrust issues often influence decisions.
Reasons such as this make it difficult to prove long-standing patterns of unfair practices in many businesses.
But these kinds of incentives are used throughout the electronics industry–even by AMD.
Complicating AMD’s claims further is the fact that computer makers and retailers love these funds.
Without these incentives, making money on PCs would be a harder proposition for many.
“You don’t make money on hardware,” one source said.
“You make it on bags and batteries.”
Although Digital and Intergraph obtained substantial settlements, their cases revolved mostly around patent infringement, not antitrust issues.
Others, however, remain bitter even after obtaining multimillion-dollar settlements from the company.
“They destroyed our hardware business.
“They put tremendous pressure on you.
It was tough to get someone to testify against them.”
