Dear Baron, so much for back to school sales!!!

According to Duboise, Intel increased its efforts in desktop retail during the 2006 back to school (BTS) season in the segment of entry-level systems with prices up to $500. “This was a decisive move for Intel since the value market make up close to half of desktops sold in retail,” Duboise said. “During BTS 2006, Intel not only had intensified its CPU pricing, which challenged AMD’s advantageous value proposition, but significantly reduced pricing on its legacy Pentium 4 products, which were suddenly selling in the value space against AMD’s Sempron. Prior to BTS 2006, Intel’s strategies were focused on the more lucrative high-end market, leaving the value volumes to AMD,” she explained.