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To: Gottfried who wrote (28704)	8/20/2002 10:00:22 AM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 110653

Dell Plans to Sell PCs Through Dealers in About-Face Updated: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 12:37 AM ET quicken.com After years of deriding personal-computer dealers as costly middlemen, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL, news, msgs) is poised to begin recruiting these dealers to sell its PCs, marching directly onto the turf long cherished by Hewlett-Packard Co. and International Business Machines Corp., Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported. This week, Dell is expected to begin offering an unbranded desktop PC to U.S. dealers, many of which essentially act as the computer departments for small businesses. Dell also will offer dealers financing and dedicated Web-site access to its products and services. The move comes as the aggressive computer maker is looking beyond its traditional business to spur sales growth. Dell has long been the leader in direct sales to customers by telephone and the Internet. But it now also sells network switches made by other companies to businesses and peddles home computers to consumers through kiosks in shopping malls. In targeting dealers, the Austin, Texas, concern is hoping to edge in on a market where the biggest brands still lose some of their business to "white boxes," the no-name computers put together from parts from various suppliers and tailored to a customer's specific needs. White-box PCs have maintained about a 30% share of the U.S. PC market despite the sweeping consolidation among the top suppliers, including Hewlett-Packard's purchase of Compaq Computer earlier this year. The top three companies, H-P, Dell and IBM, will deliver half of world-wide unit sales this year. Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Gary McWilliams contributed to this report