Dell ponders "free" PC push
By Jim Davis
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 19, 1999, 12:30 p.m. PT
As Dell Computer looks for ways to continue its growth, executives said the company will examine "giving" the PC away in return for subscribing to
an Internet service.
To counter the pressures in the PC market, Dell is looking at ways to capture revenue after the sale of the computer. One method Dell is considering is a move
to the cell-phone strategy where the cost of the PC is subsidized by selling a contract for Dell-branded Internet service, wrote Merrill Lynch analyst Steve
Milunovich in a report today.
"You will be seeing us do more to essentially make to make the PC look like a cable-TV subscription, if you will, in terms of a financial product," Michael Dell, chief
executive of Dell Computer, told analysts during a conference call yesterday.
Dell, in essence, was referring to how cable-TV subscribers lease a cable TV box for a nominal fee and charge for access to programs. The benefit for Dell is a
greater degree of insulation from sales cycles as the company gets a constant stream of money off of the PC. Plus, they compete with the new PC kids on the
block. |
