MSI evolves
In case you didn't know already, Taiwanese component and PC maker MSI is now selling notebooks direct to consumers, but only in the US. It has announced a revamp of www.msimobile.com, which enables consumers to buy all MSI notebooks and netbooks directly from the manufacturer.
The selling of products direct by vendors is a vexed issue for the channel as it by definition bypasses it. We asked UK marketing manager Richard Stewart (pictured) whether MSI plans to go direct over here. "We have no plans for an equivalent UK site as that would undermine the channel here. Maybe they have a different channel model in the US," said Stewart.
The last time we spoke to Stewart was at BETT, where he revealed a £499 price point for the new X320, which HEXUS described as a fusion of the MacBook Air and a netbook upon seeing it at CES 2009.
Stewart said he thinks this is the direction the netbook market is evolving in. "The line between notebooks and netbooks is becoming increasingly blurred," he said. "There's not a lot more room for price reductions so, from MSI at least, you'll definitely see more focus on thin and light form factors."
When we asked if those thin and light plans included AMD's Yukon platform, which has been designed especially to address that niche, Stewart said: "For the time being it's not in our launch plan." That's not great news for AMD, which needs to be getting Yukon notebooks to market fast, before NVIDIA's Ion and Intel's CULV platform spoil the party.
