Intel is niet echt blij met de vroege verkoop van de PIII. Sommige retailers in de US verkopen het ding al, terwijl ze pas officeel gereleased wordt ergens eind deze maand. News.com heeft er een artikel over:
ntel's legal department is looking into ways of stopping sales of Pentium III processors in advance of the chip's official release, but isn't likely to do much about the irksome practice.As reported last week, some computer resellers and chip dealers are already selling Pentium III processors to consumers--even offering to build systems around the chip--although the product's official rollout won't come until the end of the month. The 500-MHz version of the Pentium III is selling for $823 to $899 in retail while the 450-MHz version of the chip can be had for $569.
"It's clearly against our sales guidelines," said an Intel spokeswoman, confirming that the company's legal department is evaluating the situation.
[...]Pentium III processors now coming into the market are a classic example of "gray market" products. Computer makers have been stocking up on Pentium IIIs in anticipation of the processor's release, but because Intel will in all probability cut the chip's wholesale price the day it hits the market, some are selling their excess inventory to independent dealers.
"We've been aggressively stocking our distribution channels for this release," Intel's spokeswoman confirmed.
