Unfortunately, this expanded choice also comes with greater confusion over the alternatives that are available. Given that there seem to be no significant trends of shorter product life-cycles over the first 18 years of this industry, Dr. Bayus believes that these results can be extended to the present. The author analyzed International Data Corporation's Processor Installation Census, a database composed of annual domestic and international unit sales. The census yielded information about 600 manufacturers and 2,800 brand models. Similarly, says the author, Intel has kept steady its introduction of new microprocessors, barely varying from its usual three-year increments.
Products based on 'old' technology have shorter lifetimes than products with the newest technology.
Although individual companies are not shortening product life cycles, statistics do, in fact, leave the impression that personal computer lifetimes have declined over time. However, this observation is not due to an underlying acceleration in product technology or product model lifetimes, nor is it due to individual firms systematically reducing the life-cycles of products within their lines. Instead, the first products of firms that have entered this industry in the more recent years tend to be based on previously existing technology, and, not surprisingly, these products have life-cycles that are shorter than those of established firms. The sales opportunity window in which to obtain a financial return on invested resources in this industry is not getting shorter over time. This finding suggests that firms are balancing the costs and returns associated with their own individual product strategies.