Market slow down

[LabRat]

Has anyone else been suffering from the economy lately? My shop and surrounding IT services/hardware shops have almost ground to a halt. It looks like the IT industry is the heaviest affected though.

Just me? let me know.

[Jallentino]

Not at all, I would say people are still spending their tax refunds, maybe after April it will halt here.

[Hippie_Tech]

We saw a slowdown in Service in the beginning of Februaury, but I think that's probably due to other factors. Service is actually getting heavier every week around here, and our sales are going to be the highest of the year judging by what I've already seen this month. I think a lot of this market slowdown hype is actually caused by the media. They've been reporting a lot of speculation as fact, and it has caused problems leaking all the way down the economical chain.

[protechpc]

I have heard both sides. Some say the PC market is booming, others say it is on the edge of a bust. I think on the retail side, there is a definite slow down. As well, and product sales will probably suffer going forward. The service/repair business should maintain some velocity however. Regardless of the economy, and regardless of the changes in technology, computer still break.

On a side note, recently we saw the demise of the socket 7 boards....... try to find a Slot one fan now........ It looks as though we are in another phase of PC product retirement.

I heard, through the grapevine, that the Gateway Country Stores are closing. Anyone else heard???

[Hippie_Tech]

Originally posted by ProTech PC:
On a side note, recently we saw the demise of the socket 7 boards....... try to find a Slot one fan now........ It looks as though we are in another phase of PC product retirement.

I have also noticed an increase in unavailable parts and expensive parts do to phasing(ms?) out products. Especially in processor fans, but has anybody noticed that Non-Winmodems, while still available, are becoming more scarce and higher priced? Also, Intel has disclosed that they are ready to phase out the PIII's already and that they will not price it as agressively from here on out. Sorry, this does not apply to this particular topic, but I thought protech had a very good point.
One thing is for sure, products that stay in circulation for such a short time DEFINITELY don't encourage investors OR consumers.

[imd14u]

Yep, Iwould be surprised if we fall into recession.

[Damned Angel]

most of the shops in my area have shaved close to half of their staff already. Gateway opened up a HUGE store jsut down the street from us in november/december, closed its doors last thursday. most of the smaller shops are going bust as well. my company has shaved nearly 20 staff since febuary. sales sucks, but service is booming. unfortunatly there is only 3 of us bench techs now. when I started there was 6.

[SubZero]

I've been taking a beating on my 401k. I've lost 10% this year!

[Larommi]

I am out of a job, cause the slow down. I really don't blame the economy, I blame the almost free computers and the inheritly cheap people. As far as getting an IT job somewhere, I think this area is pretty full of IT professionals and I will have to be paitent.

[waldo]

my 401K has become a 201K

[Stanley_Kubrick]

We had a record breaking Feb and March, but lately we have seen a slowdown in sales + service...
Lets just keeping hoping some young lads inclined to building their own PCs get some PHAT tax refunds!