Dell, Breaking Its Custom, Is Selling PCs Below $1,000
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Dell Computer Corp. has begun selling a personal computer for less than $1,000, a bold move for a company that has avoided competing in the low-price sector.
Dell this month began offering a Dimension PC, complete with a 15-inch display, at a price of $999. Without a monitor, a PC with Intel Celeron 333 megahertz processor, 32 megabytes of memory and 6.4 gigabytes of disk storage runs as low as $839.
The pricing represents a departure for the computer maker, which has long targeted customers in the high-powered, higher-priced PC market. But with below-$1,000 machines representing as much of 60% of retail PC sales in January, analysts have said Dell must enter the low-cost segment if it is to continue its rapid growth.
A Dell spokesman said its first below-$1,000 PC is a reflection of lower component costs, and not a concerted effort to enter the low-cost PC fray, where companies are selling PCs for as little as $399.
In February, Dell said it was evaluating whether it can sell low-cost PCs profitably. That evaluation continues, the spokesman said, noting the company now defines low cost as below $799. |
