Robbie,
That's hard for me to talk about. First of all because I work for HWP, so I'm hesitant to say anything that might be, or might be misconstrued as posting inside information. Second because I work for the Home Products Division (purveyor of Pavilion PCs to much of the world), and we currently sell exclusively through the in-store retail market, so a comparison to Dell is difficult to make.
I can say without hesitation that our intention is to be #1 worldwide in PCs within a few years, and that we are pushing strongly in that direction, which will definitely leave the field bloody.
I also believe that for the corporate market (which my division doesn't sell to) the key to ongoing success is going to be the ability to provide overall solutions: Integration from the top-end server down to the thin-client desktop, easy support for major software packages, centralized management capabilities, etc. To date, we and IBM have been the major players in those markets. With the acquisition of Digital and Tandem, CPQ has suddenly become a major adversary to be reckoned with and have picked up a lot of experience in the systems (as opposed to the box) business.
I'm not sure where Dell ends up in all of this. If the PC is to be a home appliance in the long term, I have difficulty seeing how one can continue to thrive on a business model that does not include any of the traditional consumer retail model. If it's to be a business tool, then systems experience becomes increasingly important and they have none. I'm not sure the middle ground is big enough in the long term. They could be squeezed despite their size. Or maybe not. The tea leaves are still very murky.
HOWEVER: I'd look for CPQ to be network-shopping sometime soon. We've got network experience in house. So does IBM. That's the only big piece that Pffeifer is missing right now and if he could get it, it would solidify CPQ-IBM-HWP as the mainstays of corporate computing worldwide for years to come, and that would make things REALLY interesting. (BAY could be affordable...)
mg |
