Jill, you'll get no argument from me that the industry is changing very rapidly and that Dell needs to embrace many new concepts and technologies. The all-in-one designs as I have stated are "definately the wave of the future".
As well, the consumer opportunity is an area Dell is under-penetrated. They must address this market to sustain growth rates in the 35-40% range.
The point I've been raising is about timing... i.e. the volumes we see today vs. the volumes 6-9 mos from now. It should not hurt Dell financially to follow on in this market. It's still my opinion that being first to market with a new technology is not as important as offering relevant technologies in a more cost effective and efficient manner.
Gateway, as well as NEC and SHARP have unveiled very nice all-in-ones which appear to be in the final round of experimentation for this form factor and ready for market acceptance. I believe Dell will have an offering here much sooner than the 18mos stated in the article... I'd bet by xmas or Q1 00.
Re: It's important to be perceived as industry leader and innovator
True. Dell is currently viewed as both. Although, if you, as well as others "precieve" that they are not being innovative, then that
perception.... is real.
Re: I think Dell is coming out with a new design precisely because they realized Gateway had one-upped them and gotten a lot of attention.
Quite possibly some truth to that. But I also think that they recognize the appeal of the design and that it will gain mass acceptance. The design is not a totally new concept. Here in the engineering circles, we have kicked around ideas like this over the last few years, LCD cost was always an issue. Compaq actually tried to offer a product similar to this a few years ago... it flopped... they were ahead of their time.
On that note, LCD supplies today are constrained big time which will
keep prices high on the all-in-ones. This will push the demand curve out a few more quarters giving Dell plenty of time.
Perception management takes on two forms IMO. It's relationship to investors and the stock price and it's relationship to your current and future customer base. But that's probably fuel for another heated
debate for some<g>.
Re: Gateway is making smart moves and they certainly have impressed me of late...
I tend to agree in terms of the market they are after... the consumer.
I think they are many steps ahead of Dell in this space. However, GTW has been pursuing and catering to this market for years where Dell
has just begun. It will be interesting to see if Dell can find the right strategies to close the gap quickly.
On the flip side, the moves Dell has made to impress corporate IT managers are not as evident to consumers in general.... Open manage and paperless PO mean nothing to those who don't manage large networks for a living. So where consumers view Dell as not being innovative, corporate clients are. Dell likely needs both now.
My hope is that institutional investment firms will continue to view Dell as a leader.
Now that Dell is aggressively going after the consumer market, I would suspect the the recent announcements of late will continue to be tailored to this market segment.
"Watch this space"
MEATHEAD
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