DL,
I've read your message and the responses so far, so now for my $0.02!
For me, it would be kind of a wait and see! I have to believe that trying to build BTO's for every major manufacturer could be tough! If it works out well, DELL could take advantage of the situation if they got 'behind' (small chance), they could order 'DELL' computers from the Micro manufacturer. (It would be an interesting comparison, if they could get them for a lower price than producing them at their own facility!)
It does appear that there is another 'layer' of profit to be taken out of the end product, and I don't know where that would be paid without passing the cost to the customer. The only thing that I could see that might hurt DELL was if the 3 'biggies' decided to subsidize the initial market penetration, and sell the systems for less than the cost to produce! (Wouldn't be the first time that this was done!)
From the MICRO side, they would have to be able to collect the various components from different manufacturers, including 'motherboards' which support Intel, AMD or Cyrix cpu's, and disk drives from Maxtor, WDC, Seagate, Quantum, etc. This also applies to memories, sound cards, and on and on! It is do-able, but it would be interesting to watch, especially during the 'start-up' phase. remembering that DELL is already there!
Have to wait and see!
JMHO,
Ken |
