Kirk,
I really don't care if Dell gets into the printer business or not, but I hope most of your comments are tongue-in-cheek.
Dell lacks R&D which I believe they will one day have to merge with IBM to get.
If you believe this, then you don't understand Dell's business model. Dell waits until "new' products get closer to commodity status before getting into the market. Their strength is building the products more cheaply, and not including multiple layers of channel between themselves and the customer that each jack up the price. They don't need an advanced R&D group.
Now they are selling printers and ink and sharing the spoils with LexMark. Perhaps they buy Lexmark?
They were sharing the spoils with HP before; what's the difference? Now they'll have the Dell name on the printers. Time will tell whether the Dell name adds any value. Personally, I don't believe that the PC name (whether it's HP or Dell or whoever) helps with printer sales. HP has a 40%+ share (according to IDC for the first half of 2002) because they invented the laser and inkjet printer segments. Lexmark and Epson each grew to about 20% share of the market without having any PCs to "bundle" with the sale, as did Canon with 10% of the market.
In the mean time, HPQ is forging ahead with digital cameras.
In the end, the Nikon's, Minolta's, etc. will dominate this segment. Any printer manufacturer who can read the various removable media formats will be able to print copies of photos.
Dave
(Disclaimer: Before anyone asks, I don't own any Dell, and if my wife didn't work for HP, I wouldn't own any HPQ either.) |
