Just as Advanced Micro Devices
The ATI brand name will soon be nothing but a memory. A $5.4 billion buyout has resulted in the revolutionary Fusion platform, which is expected to propel AMD into steady profits and technological leadership from 2011 onward. But the ATI brand itself has played its part and now only serves to dilute AMD's central brand, according to the company's own market research.
This move is but a small part in a larger overhaul of AMD's branding strategy. The current plethora of confusing product names will be boiled down significantly over the coming months: You won't need to keep track of what makes a Phenom II processor better or worse than an Athlon II or Turion, for example. Instead the company will offer "Vision" categories that summarize the processing power of AMD machines. This goes one step further than Intel
If AMD truly sticks to its guns here, it's a great move from two different perspectives:
- In terms of marketing, a consumer can select an AMD-based computer based on listed features and speeds, rather than being led astray by brands that mean nothing.
- The product design team can focus on fewer product lines and align their activities with less duplicated effort. This should lead to improved margins across the board, with the largest effect showing up on the operating margin.
This also boils down to simplified system design for computer builders like Dell
The presence of Intel and NVIDIA
Will a simple, svelte AMD compete more strongly with NVIDIA and Intel, or does a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Discuss in the comments below.