Silicon Valley venture funders weren't as excited as black consumer software makers when told by Target Market News and the Department of Commerce and Labor, that black consumers spent $ 1.3 billion on computer-related products last year.

Many yawned about the 143% percent increase in the purchase of computers by blacks over 1997. Perhaps they should be yarning because this financial activity isn't as sexy as a [ bad] IPO and the figures represent less than 1% of the total personal computer revenue gross in the United States.

Often, founders and investors in a venture backed IPO that rises 10% in shareholder value on the day it goes to market, can clear several billion in a few hours, even when the companies they are supporting are losing money hands over first.

I don't care if they are yarning as long as somebody else is waking up who might be software artists, illustrators,graphic designers, multimedia specialists and production executives. New ideas they could be working on to create PC Games and other software for black computer buyers will make a lot of people happy.

And, $1.3 billion in total expenditures represents a lot of computers when you consider that the median purchase price is about $1,000 dollars per box. Of course, all isn't being spent on hardware because hardware is useless without software. Computer problems are hard to resolve without the help of a good digitalplumber.

While the cost of computer ownership almost triples the costs to acquire one, the battle lines are being drawn between box pushers who offer low cost warranties, such as Dell and Gateway, and black technicians at the community level, who are servicing PCs and want to make a profit doing so.

These technicans spends $1,000s of dollars in educational courses and other routine expenses to obtain certifications necessary to service computers under warranty. The computer hardware companies then enable them with warranty authorizations.

A larger increase in shipping volumes will cause warranty contracts to further decline in price, making this part of the business profitable only in the single digits. This is not enough to sustain self-sufficiency. Warranty enablers are fiercely competing with technicians they enable.

Because of this, expect HMO style non-profit service shops in your community if this buying spree continues. Also, expect Black computer service businesses, you thought would make it, fail.

More disappointing observations:
Black exploitation film themes of yesterday are becoming the new scripts in multimedia PC games intended for teenage computer users.

But, the good news is that Black kids are being exposed to computers just about as fast as non-black kids, and they are getting pretty good at it, without much effort. And, we believe blacks spent closer to $5 billion on computer purchases. If this is true, PC Game makers will become more aggressive at marketing bad scripts for four times the cost of a good music CD.

"The number shows there really isn't a digital divide between blacks and whites," said Ken Smikle, editor of the report. "We don't buy into it." Blacks in metro Atlanta spent $ 8.5 million on computers in 1998, a 130 percent increase, according to the report. Computer products include hardware, software and access to the Internet. Smikle said his numbers show that white household spending on computer- related products rose 10 percent while others agreed that that blacks are becoming wired in unprecedented numbers.

Still, $1.3 billion in personal computer spending is a disappointing amount of dollars when compared to 10 times that being spent by Blacks for home electronics equipment such as televisions and stereos. But buying more televisions still makes sense.. Computers aren't as user friendly as television are yet. And, after a hard days work, in often stressful conditions, televisions are a user friendlier piece of technology, when combined with a decent mix of videocassettes, and they are not as isolationist in the family as are online chat rooms and online PC Gaming activities.

Now, is the time to stop counting how many computers blacks are buying and to start counting what more can be done with these systems that is already so obvious. Blacksoftware.com's Free Stuff Page has plenty of examples.

Artists - Expose Yourself - Show your talent to the world!

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