Hi Kemble! Dell is just in its' infancy! :)Leigh
"While $500 million is not that much, it's a lot to expect for them to be a global player overnight. They just started focusing on that a couple of quarters ago."
austin360.com
Dell takes steps to be less reliant on PCs
By John Pletz
American-Statesman Staff
Monday, May 22, 2000
Dell Computer Corp. is making headway in its drive to bring in revenue from new sources while diversifying its offerings of desktop computers.
Last week, the company launched a new line of high-performance personal computers targeted to the growing population of day traders. The new machines, which will be available May 31, are equipped with trading software and investor-specific features, such as dual screens. They'll range in price from $2,000 to more than $3,500, depending on the features.
Separately, Dell also inked a deal with Xerox Corp. to sell the company's printers alongside offerings from Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, NEC, Okidata, Panasonic, QMS, Samsung and others.
The deals aren't big ones, but they're the latest significant steps by Dell to try and lessen its dependence on low-margin personal computers and continue exploiting the Internet. Some critics -- most recently Wired magazine -- suggest Dell needs to look beyond the PC box to continue its success.
Dell came to the same conclusion on its own and has been pushing into servers and storage products in an attempt to position itself as a key supplier to those who are building the Internet infrastructure. It's also pushing services.
The company launched a new Internet sales and marketing division three months ago to target dot-com companies, Internet service providers and those that create software applications and services for the Web.
Dell said its sales to large Internet companies -- such as servers and storage units -- have grown more than 250 percent in the past six months.
Dell's new service to host Web pages for small and mid-size companies, launched in February, has already gained more than 2,000 customers. About 40 percent of them are new to Dell, and half of them switched from other vendors, the company said.
Overall, its service revenue climbed more than 50 percent to more than $500 million during the first quarter ended April 28. That's still not as big as rival Compaq Computer Corp., whose services business totaled $1.8 billion in the first quarter ended March 31.
"They're coming off a very small base," Amir Ahari, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, said of Dell. "While $500 million is not that much, it's a lot to expect for them to be a global player overnight. They just started focusing on that a couple of quarters ago."
You may contact John Pletz at jpletz@statesman.com or 445-3601. This story contains material from The Associated Press. |
