Here more on Mobile PC - Looks better and better
skip to the middle re DELL. Check the site that I got these info from there a whole slew of data from Dataquest. GO DELL GO
tscn.com
5/15/99 - Mobile PCs -- New form factors give vendors a boost
May. 14, 1999 (Computer Reseller News - CMP via COMTEX) -- While the top three mobile PC vendors held their positions for 1998, the year was anything but stable. On the downside, prices dropped and surplus inventory plagued many vendors during the first half of the year, leading to a dip in overall worldwide revenue. Sales for the industry slipped to $35.2 billion, down from $36.2 billion in 1997, according to Dataquest, San Jose, Calif.
However, the introduction of Intel Corp.'s mobile Pentium II processor and innovative thin-and-light form factors helped
spur unit sales, and most vendors were reporting that they were meeting their inventory goals by the end of the year.
Toshiba Corp., Tokyo, held onto its long-standing lead in the cat-egory despite a dip in sales. Its notebook revenue
dropped to $6.2 billion in 1998, down 17 percent from $7.4 billion the prior year. The company's share of the market
declined to 17.5 percent, down from 20.5 percent in 1997.
Toshiba's revenue decline stemmed from lower unit prices, not lower unit sales, said Joseph Formichelli, executive vice
president of the Toshiba Computer Systems Division, Irvine, Calif.
While the year was marked by aggressive pricing and early inventory problems, Toshiba began to see the first concrete
results of re-engineering and supply chain management, meeting its inventory goals by the end of the year, Formichelli said.
"Our goal was to have three weeks of inventory, and we met that," he said. "Working closely with our partners made that
happen."
Toshiba maintained its lead with new technology, including the release of the Portege series of ultraportable notebooks,
which was a "booming success," Formichelli said.
Toshiba was not alone in jumping on the thin-and-light bandwagon.
Second-place IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., ended the year in a strong position due in part to the popularity of its new
ultraportable, the ThinkPad 600 series, said Adalio Sanchez, general manager of IBM's mobile computing division.
"We saw the appetite for thin-and-light grow exponentially as customers became more accustomed to the technology,"
Sanchez said.
The ThinkPad 600 series is on a trajectory to reach 1 million in unit sales in a 12-month period, he said. That would best
IBM's top-selling ThinkPad 380 series, which took 15 months to reach the 1 million mark, Sanchez said.
Like Toshiba, IBM also saw dips in both revenue and market share. IBM's mobile PC sales dropped to $5 billion, down 9
percent from $5.5 billion the year before. Its market share dipped to 14.2 percent, down from 15.1 percent.
Oversupply in the first half of the year led to price drops at an artificially fast rate, as did an excess of components such as
TFT displays and memory, Sanchez said.
But new Pentium II technology, the expansion of the ThinkPad brand in the consumer market and an aggressive push
toward channel assembly helped IBM finish strong, he said.
"We finished the year with tremendous momentum," said Sanchez.
Houston-based Compaq Computer Corp. struggled with the integration of Digital Equipment Corp., acquired early in 1998,
but the company also expanded revenue and market share. Maintaining its No. 3 spot, Compaq saw revenue grow to $4.4
billion in this category, up 11 percent from $4 billion the prior year.
"It was a big acquisition to deal with," said Eric Brennan, director of North American mobile product marketing for
Compaq.
Compaq, too, got stuck with inventory in the first half and had to take pricing actions, Brennan said, but the transition to the
Pentium II processor across the line helped spur sales in the second half.
"By the end of the year, we had good inventory levels and met our aggressive goals," he said.
The success story of 1998 was Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, Texas, No. 4, whose revenue and market share nearly
doubled. Dell's mobile PC sales reached $3.6 billion, up 90 percent from $1.9 billion, while its market share hit 10.2 percent, up from 5.2 percent, according to Dataquest. Platform stability, attained through commonality of components and software drivers, fueled growth, as did Dell's direct selling model, which insulated the company from the inventory problems that plagued other vendors, said Tim Peters, worldwide general manager of Dell's Latitude notebook line. "We don't own the product very long and can take advantage of the freshest cost," Peters said. For example, when display prices dropped dramatically, Dell could take advantage of the cost reductions almost weekly, he said. One way Dell boosted sales to corporate customers was by focusing its efforts on a small number of mobile platforms, Peters said. For example, Dell's Latitude line included only two form factors: the CPi "workhorse" and the new LT ultraportable. In the future, Dell plans to branch out and expand its mobile offerings while sticking to its basic strategy of using standardized components. "The trick is to do it while maintaining commonality," Peters said.
Fujitsu Ltd., Tokyo, rounded out the top five with $2.03 billion in sales, up a slight 4 percent from $1.96 billion in 1997.
Sales were particularly strong in Europe and Japan, said Steve Andler, vice president of marketing for Fujitsu.
"We didn't have the same inventory problems [as the top vendors]," Andler said.
It was a tough year overall for the mobile PC vendors, but the market is far from mature. With new ultraportable form
factors and devices, the market is picking up.
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By: Jennifer Hagendorf
Copyright 1999 CMP Media Inc. |
