Posted on 08/20/2002 10:28:56 AM PDT by HAL9000
Dell Computer is seeking alliances with mom-and-pop shops to further its growth in the PC market.Dell will begin offering on Friday an unbranded, low-priced desktop PC to distributors that cater to small businesses--typically companies with fewer than 100 employees, the computer maker confirmed Tuesday.
The Round Rock, Texas-based company is embarking on the new plan as a way to enter the "white box" market, which it estimates to be worth $3 billion annually. White-box PC sales have grown quietly over the last five years to represent roughly 30 percent of the market, according to a recent report from market researcher IDC. These PCs are assembled or purchased and resold by small outfits that range in size from single-owner or family-owned shops to larger, regional PC sellers.
By offering the PCs to distributors, Dell essentially joins the party, allowing the companies to sell and service Dell's $499 unbranded computer as they would if they had made it themselves. Meanwhile, Dell can offer the dealers discounts, favorable leasing terms and other sales incentives, representatives said.
The new desktop, dubbed White Box D510, will offer an Intel Celeron processor and a one-year warranty. Buyers will be able to configure it to their desired specifications, increasing memory allotments, for example.
Even though any given white-box maker is tiny compared with the heft of Dell's 30,000-plus employees, the collective market represents an untapped portion of worldwide PC shipments. As Dell tries to gain market share worldwide, in many respects, white-box makers are one of the company's biggest competitors in the consolidated PC industry.
White-box makers are known for offering low prices, but they have also expanded in the last few years to provide technical support, network installation and other services needed by small and medium-sized businesses--all serving to make them formidable competitors in the market. These services, as well as dealers' close proximity to their customers, help generate sales.
To reflect previously uncounted white-box units, IDC increased by 8 million units its estimate for the size of the entire 2001 worldwide PC market. As a result, it also lowered the relative market share positions of the biggest vendors, such as Dell.
Dell is going after buyers at small businesses, but it views the dealer as its true customer. The company estimates that about 60 percent of dealers in the white-box realm buy their PCs as opposed to building them. Dell asserts that it can supply these dealers with a better-quality machine at a similar or better price than others, without cutting into its own profitability, a company representative said.
Dell would make about the same percentage of profit on the new small-business PC as it does on one of its regular desktop computers.
Part of the key to retaining profitability is to avoid building PCs for inventory. Dell will not build any of these small-business machines ahead of time. Instead, its dealers must order each PC needed for their customers. Deliveries from Dell usually take about three to five business days.
Though Dell expects that it will be able to expand its reach with the new desktop, it is making the move with some initial caution.
"We're going to wait and see how this goes. The only plan at this point in time is to offer the desktop product," said Amy King, a Dell spokeswoman. "We will evaluate the market and see what demand is like and take it from there."
The move isn't really a major departure for Dell, which has experience working with dealers. Dell sold PCs through dealers, including retail outlets, in the early 1990s before making a total switch to selling directly to customers.
I love it!!
On a related note, I feel it is my duty to inform all interested that I bought a Gateway computer about 7-8 months ago.
Within about 6.5 months, the modem died, the hard drive crashed and the video driver was bad. I took it into the Gateway service center to have them replace the hard drive and fix the video driver (if that is indeed the actual problem).
One month later, the computer was returned to me with a new hard drive but nothing was done about the video driver. They didn't even examine the problem, according to their own work order.
If this post keeps even one other person from giving money to Gateway, it was worth it.
| Contributor | Occupation | Date | Amount | Recipient |
| DELL FAMILY INTERESTS AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
12/31/1999 | $7,500 | NRCC/Non-Federal Account | |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
9/29/2000 | $500 | Majority Leader's Fund | |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
11/7/2000 | $1,000 | Grams, Rod | |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
11/6/2000 | $1,000 | Ashcroft, John | |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
12/21/1999 | $7,500 | NRSC/Non-Federal | |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER | 3/20/2000 | $1,000 | Abraham, Spencer |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER | 9/20/2000 | $1,000 | Frist, Bill |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER | 11/7/2000 | $500 | Brady, Kevin |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP | 11/6/2000 | $500 | Oxley, Michael G |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP | 8/3/2000 | $500 | Tauzin, W J "Billy" |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 5/15/2000 | $500 | Sessions, Pete |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER/CHAIRMAN & CEO | 11/6/2000 | $1,000 | Smith, Lamar |
| DELL, MICHAEL AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTERS | 11/6/2000 | $500 | Dunn, Jennifer |
| DELL, MICHAEL MR AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION/CHAIRMAN | 12/14/2001 | $5,000 | Dell Computer |
| DELL, MICHAEL MRS AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
9/29/2000 | $500 | Majority Leader's Fund | |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER | 6/12/2000 | $1,000 | Republican Majority Fund |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER | 11/6/2000 | $500 | Roth, William V Jr |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP | 10/18/2000 | $1,000 | Santorum, Rick |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP | 11/7/2000 | $1,000 | Bryant, Ed |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP | 10/24/2000 | $1,000 | American Renewal PAC |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP | 10/20/2000 | $500 | Granger, Kay |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 7/23/2001 | $10,000 | National Republican Senatorial Cmte |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 9/21/2000 | $200,000 | RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 7/27/2000 | $50,000 | RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 11/8/2000 | $1,000 | New Republican Majority Fund |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 10/20/2000 | $1,000 | Hutchison, Kay Bailey |
| DELL, MICHAEL S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION | 3/31/1999 | $1,000 | Bush, George W |
| DELL, MICHAEL S MR AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP. | 12/31/2001 | $5,000 | NRCC/Contributions Non-Federal #2 |
| DELL, MICHAEL S MR AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORP. | 12/31/2001 | $20,000 | NRCC/Contributions Non-Federal #2 |
| DELL, MICHAEL S MR AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION/CHAIRMAN | 4/11/2002 | $5,000 | Dell Computer |
| DELL, MICHAEL S MR AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION/CHIEF EXE | 5/31/2000 | $1,000 | Bush, George W |
| DELL, SUSAN AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
SUSAN DELL INC | 9/21/2000 | $50,000 | RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte |
| DELL, SUSAN L MRS AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
SUSAN DELL INC./CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFF | 5/31/2000 | $1,000 | Bush, George W |
| DELL, SUSAN S AUSTIN, TX 78746 |
SUSAN DELL INC | 3/31/1999 | $1,000 | Bush, George W |
However, I read a while back about Dell not selling a computer to a gun dealer, and not contacting him about their decision, either.
I don't know anyone who does anything about service except follow the service manual. If you don't know someone who reads all the on-line chatter about drivers, you're out of luck.
To be fair, a co-worker has a Dell that is less than a year old. His hard drive just crashed but Dell sent a rep within 48 hours to replace it.
As I pointed out earlier, that's a big difference from Gateway which requires you to take the computer to a service center where they do who-knows-what. (Granted, we're talking about the service center in Manhattan but methinks a high-volume store should *gasp* hire more employees to handle the workload).
Anyway, one of the great things about the Internet is what a boon it is to consumers seeking out info about the reliability of different products.
Before anyone tries this, be sure to get the repair utility supplied by the drive manufactuter
This fixed the drive, but erased all the secret stuff that ABS had put on the machine. Now the recovery disk won't run because it is expecting a recovery partition on the drive.
The solution was a clean windows install, followed by an update of all the drivers. Very time consuming, but now the machine has a clean install of everything.
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