Is there such a thing as too many product launches? While a great variety often indicates better control for the consumer to get what they want, Intel has recently been getting complaints from motherboard manufacturers about the frequency of their product updates. The complaint revolves around the difficult in keeping development of their motherboards up along with keeping pricing in line with the rest of the market.
This isn't all that much different from the complaints Intel got around the time they started to get all shifty on interface standards, with relatively quick switches from Socket 423 to 478 to 775, as well as shifting memory standards. Unfortunately for these mobo manufacturers, it's not likely to stop anytime soon. Both AMD and Intel have a lot to gain by pushing newer CPUs more and more often, especially with the emergence of multi-core desktop units and 65nm processes. Could this have a negative effect on the consumer, though? The faster and more rushed a manufacturer is, the higher the chance they'll be putting out inferior products. Such is the nature of competition, though.