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Report suggests that Europe's largest retailer was paid not to sell AMD products

The German website Financial Times Deutschland reports (English) that a well known reseller accepted financial assets from Intel in order to prevent the sale of AMD processors. Media-Saturn-Holding is one of the largest computer retailers in Europe appears to be in a bind with Intel over processor and product sales.

According to the report, a refusal letter surfaced from inside of Media-Saturn-Holding saying that the company would not sell AMD based products because of a "fixed agreement with Intel." In fact, it isn't just AMD processors. The report says that Media-Saturn-Holding does not buy any products that contain AMD processors, period.

AMD has been in an ongoing legal battle with various companies it claims have entered into mutual agreements with Intel to either not sell AMD products or develop applications that perform better of have more features when run on Intel processors. In a filing by AMD, it identifies Media-Saturn-Holding as Media Markt, a subsidiary of Media-Saturn-Holding. According to the filing, Intel gives roughly $15 to $20 million to Media Markt for marketing co-op spending on annual basis, and that the company has not carried an AMD product since 1997.  The general inference seems to be that Intel leveraged its co-op money for MSH to not carry non-Intel products.

One of the more popular computer retailers in the US is Fry's Electronics. According to AMD, Fry's was successful at marketing AMD's Athlon XP based products and consequently those products were removed from store shelves because "[Intel] offered Fry's a large payment to remove it."

Intel has had its offices in various global locations raided by local authorities. This year, Intel had its offices in Korea raided by the Korean Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of monopolistic practices that it claims victimized a large number of companies. Last year, Intel's office in Munich was also raided by local authorities.

Earlier this year, AMD claimed that some government bodies were purchasing Intel-based computers simply because of brand preference when its own processors offered better performance for less. AMD said that this practice was costing tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars

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Will this ever reach an end?
By Xeeros on 7/3/2006 8:34:10 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah we know Intel hasn't been saints about business practices . But really how much longer and how much evidence do you need really I mean so far I think its safe to say they caught Intel redhanded holding the weapon at the scene of the crime as it were.




RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By 5150Joker on 7/3/2006 8:53:09 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed, Intel and their retail partners need to be punished for this. Intel should pay AMD a couple billion dollars in damages and the retailers should be forced to stock AMD chips and give them equal advertisement.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By aGreenAgent on 7/3/2006 9:02:28 PM , Rating: 3
Won't happen.

AMD isn't trying to get damages, they're trying to stop Intel from ever doing this again.

They keep bringing it up so Intel keeps looking like the bad guy (which isn't an unfounded claim).

As long as AMD keeps the lawsuits up, Intel won't enter into any more deals like this - and that's the goal.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By Snoop on 7/4/2006 7:04:42 AM , Rating: 2
Didnt Intel and Skype just make a deal to make only some features available to intel dual core users? I doubt Intel is going to quit doing these types of things and I also doubt they care much about the anti-trust case. Look at all the money wasted on going after Microsoft, yet it hasnt changed a thing.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By Viditor on 7/4/2006 7:57:31 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I doubt Intel is going to quit doing these types of things and I also doubt they care much about the anti-trust case

Well, it appears that they are in the middle of leveling their "rebate" program, which is why Dell has finally gone to AMD.
And Intel's expected settlement on the anti-trust case (estimated by Wells Fargo analysts) is ~$4 Billion...


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By masher2 (blog) on 7/4/2006 9:56:07 AM , Rating: 1
> "AMD isn't trying to get damages..."

Oops. AMD most certainly is trying to "get damages". They're suing for the sum total of all profits lost by AMD since they first began selling CPUs. Tripled.

Yes, tripled. That's the US suit. The Japanese suit seeks a mere $50M in damages.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By Viditor on 7/4/2006 11:25:14 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
They're suing for the sum total of all profits lost by AMD since they first began selling CPUs. Tripled

Exactly correct...
US Law mandates triple damages for anti-trust suits.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By dilz on 7/3/2006 9:00:17 PM , Rating: 2
I've only seen a handful of AMD commercials on the television. Before AMD can really take on Intel, people have to know that they exist. Considering that many people consider the "Pentium" brand of CPU their computer as well as their operating system. (I dunno, I've got a Pentium...)

I've only made machines with AMD procs, but you'd be amazed at the number of people out there who think that a CPU branded anything other than Intel is tantamount to witchcraft. Perhaps availablitly of AMD products to market will result in widespread acceptance.

In case that doesn't happen, I suggest they grab themselves some front-page news. Best of luck, AMD.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By dilz on 7/3/2006 9:01:58 PM , Rating: 2
Terrible grammar... sorry.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By AlexWade on 7/3/2006 9:34:41 PM , Rating: 2
You are right about AMD's lousy marketing. AMD needs to worry about that and Core 2 right now.


By Scrogneugneu on 7/3/2006 9:43:05 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Considering that many people consider the "Pentium" brand of CPU their computer as well as their operating system. (I dunno, I've got a Pentium...)


Yeah, I remember hearing this dozens of times... and with most of them, it was in fact an AMD inside ;) People just say "It's a Pentium... I think... isn't it?" because it's the only word they know that describes a computer part.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By IamKindaHungry on 7/3/2006 9:45:04 PM , Rating: 2
To be blunt... this will continue until Intel is either forced to admit that it intentionally sought to exclude AMD from many markets by offering OEMS $$$$$ not to sell AMD products, or Intel is found guilty in court.

Contrary to popular belief, the A64 is by no means AMD's first competitive product. IMHO every AMD processor line since the K6-2 has been very competitve with similar Intel offerings in terms of performance. In terms of price/performance AMD has also had the advantage. This suit has been many years in the making, i think the dominance of the A64 over its competition finally forced AMD to act.

<Sigh... enough with my babbling>

Anyway back to the main reason for this post...


quote:
've only seen a handful of AMD commercials on the television. Before AMD can really take on Intel, people have to know that they exist. Considering that many people consider the "Pentium" brand of CPU their computer as well as their operating system. (I dunno, I've got a Pentium...)


I almost want to agree completely with that. However, I truly believe that if your average consumer enters a Best Buy store, and sees two computers, an AMD based one next to an Intel based system. The first thing they notice is price, the first question asked will probably be "which performs better?". Given such a scenario you would assume the customer would leave with the AMD based system. I believe that this is the type of scenario AMD would want (until core duo is released). However, due to Intels tactics what usually happens is your average consumer usually is given a choice between two intel machines.

Hmm... I should probably end this now before this turns into a dissertation on the AMD/Intel case

<disclaimer: the above scenario assumes the salesman is not the average idiot you find working in the computer section at a Best Buy>


By Scrogneugneu on 7/3/2006 10:11:24 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
<disclaimer: the above scenario assumes the salesman is not the average idiot you find working in the computer section at a Best Buy>



Would so much like to ear an extremist fanboy at BB...

"Both of them suck, if you want a REAL computer, look for anything powered by a Cyrix."


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By phatboye on 7/3/2006 10:26:39 PM , Rating: 3
I'm sorry you are wrong. K6-2 and k6-3 were nice CPUs but they were no match for the PII and PIII cpus as far as gaming was concerned. My aunt had a K6-3 500mhz and my PII 350mhz crushed it in any game you threw at it. The K6 lines were nice cpus for simple web browsing/email. But anything multimedia related they failed miserably compared to the Pentiums.

AMD's First competitve CPU was their first Athlon CPUs.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By Nelsieus on 7/3/2006 10:36:00 PM , Rating: 2
Stores have a right to sell what they want to, yes, but when one company is paying them to exclude their largest competitor from their product line, you then have an issue, one that *is* illegial, and there are penalties for, as well.

I hope AMD will prosper in this ongoing battle, as they should, and that in the future, Intel will start playing more fairly (or atleast by the rules).


By IamKindaHungry on 7/3/2006 11:04:26 PM , Rating: 2
Umm... I dont wont to get into a flame-fest here...

but the PII-350 was not in the same league with a K6-3/500 (though i am amazed your aunt actually had one since they were extremely rare, maybe you mean the K6-2/500)

I will admit as far as games/multimedia content were concerned the K6-3 was an underperformer, but if I remember correctly a K6-3/500 would perform on par with a P3/450 in such apps.

Your P2/350 would have been smashed, hands down... A slightly better comparison would be the k6-3/400 and your p2.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By jtesoro on 7/4/2006 1:10:29 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not too sure I agree with your average consumer scenario that in most cases price and performance alone will do it for AMD. In too many instances I've had friends and relatives go for Intel because they know the brand. Just like choosing between a no-name PC and an IBM or Compaq (when they were making PCs anyway), people get it "just to be sure", "to get the real thing" and such, even it costs more and wasn't as fast.

I think AMD would do much better if they borrowed a page from properly-marketed products like, well, Intel itself. I think that long-running Intel Inside campaign (with the audio signature) worked very well.


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By dilz on 7/4/2006 2:59:52 AM , Rating: 2
Agreed. AMD is has become more visible in the mainstream, but are known mostly among recent computer buyers. There are people out there still hanging on to PIII's... Those procs were the glory days for Intel (since perhaps the 486DX50).

It seems that for the mid to long term, AMD will no longer hold the performance crown, so they'll be driven back into discounted price and "perceived quality" obscurity.

Regardless of any of that crap I've written above, we all can agree that AMD needs to the the word out about their products. I may be building my first Intel system with the looks of what they've made available. The 805/820D's especially look tempting, and then there's Conroe...


RE: Will this ever reach an end?
By Garreye on 7/4/2006 1:37:24 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
It seems that for the mid to long term, AMD will no longer hold the performance crown, so they'll be driven back into discounted price and "perceived quality" obscurity.
I'd say it'd be more like short to mid term, when Intel releases Core they'll hold the performance crown, but AMD is supposed to be releasing K8L and ramping to 65nm early next year so AMD easily could gain back the crown, who knows.
I don't see how you think good price/performance is "perceived quality"...Just because a company doesn't have the performance crown doesn't mean its not worth buying any of there products. If you have a certain budget for buying a cpu and you get more performance from an AMD (which may not always be the case) then it seems to me that its more than "perceived quality" IMHO.


Intel's Setback is Temporary!
By dilz