sleepy

Dell Aims to Diversify Away from PCs, But How?

According to the slides, Dell actually says it is "without legacy profit pools to constrain our thinking".

Bean-counter-in-denial speak for "we don't actually know why anyone buys anything from us, and it's beginning to look like we're going bust".

Can Dell Succeed in Smartphones?

Dell's true competitors are companies like Wallmart, Ingram and Amazon, and they are pretty weak even there. To compete with Apple, RIM or even Nokia - it's a joke - but they probably won't find a carrier willing to pay a subsidy, so it will come to nothing.

Dell Gets Ready for a Comeback - Barron's

More than all the profit that Dell has made from the start has been spent on buying back the stock that insiders were selling as their options matured. That's how Dell has net tangible assets of a billion or so despite tens of billions in past profit. So insiders have already taken all the money - the cash that remains is borrowed.

The Wintel glory days are over. Dell and HPQ have gutted their companies in a drive for efficiency. Possibly a winning strategy in a growth market, but potentially suicidal in difficult times.

Dell Q4: Far Short of Estimates

Dell did well being the leader among Microsoft's enforcers of the Windows/Office monopoly. Whether MS succeeds or fails to move on, it's very hard now for Dell not to die with the MS monopoly.

I am somewhat surprised that Dell says a substantial part of its savings are in cost of goods. Doesn't that mean that their true margins continue to decline despite what they say?

Dude, You Should Be Buying Some Dell

Yup, Dell is ripping up the floorboards and burning them to stay warm. Selling off facilities; outsourcing everything including product development, spending any spare cash to buy back shares. Not the actions of a company that knows where it's going. Everything may look fine from outside, but they are critically dependent for cashflow on growing sales, and maintaining their "cash conversion cycle", but that's been going backwards. Net equity per share excluding intangibles has halved in the past year. If you look at the price IBM got for their PC business from Lenovo, and price Dell that way, you'd come with no more than $5 per share. Know any competitor who wants to buy? Didn't think so.

Three Reasons I Chose Microsoft over Apple for Home Media

Tying content distribution to physical media is obviously irrelevant for the future. Even broadcast TV and radio have only a small part to play in the future. Apple is carefully building towards the future; Microsoft is providing a broad solution for the end of the 20th century most of which will have to be discarded not so far in the future.

I'm much happier managing my content to follow Apple's vision.

In a Recession, Who Still Needs Tech?

I'm not sure the writer actually knows what it's like to manage your affairs on a small budget. A smart phone is a key economic resource when you lose your job and/or home. Just two examples: rapid response is necessary to get items from the freecycle network (see wikipedia), and progressing job applications at no marginal cost by email. An iPod is a known one time cost that entertains you for almost nothing; so it's also justifiable in hard times, especially because you can always ebay it if things get tight. Can't do that with an evening out, or meals eaten at Macdonald's.

Don't Let the Times Stop You from Taking Action

There is nothing to recommend Dell. Business model that used to be unbeatable but doesn't work any more. So they're tearing up the floorboards and selling them for "cost savings". Product design, manufacturing, support, everything sold off and rented back. Last quarter accounts payable $15.5B; net tangible assets $0.3B. That's one low flying jumbo you're recommending. With undisclosed sub-prime exposure, apparently (see last conf call).

Dell never was a computer company, just the biggest screwdriver assembly and financial smoke and mirrors operation in the market, crucially dependent on growing sales and negative cash conversion cycle to milk the business of delivering Microsoft's monopoly to the world. Microsoft monopoly is dying; netbooks are killing revenue growth, and Apple is taking most of the high margin business.

Far from Michael Dell turning the company round, it was the CEO and CFO who bailed out, who had created the financial smoke and mirrors for Dell, and they set him up with a 2-year cushion to execute his fantasy of a turnaround. Time's up. Expect more bad news.

Why Is Dell Trying to Compete With the iPod?

It can't be about the music player; it's about the desktop. Dell can pre-install an iTunes alternative on every consumer machine it ships ( the delLife suite?), and hopes this large number of pre-installs can bootstrap an ecosystem the way Apple bootstrapped the iPod/iTunes using Mac users. Dell need a music player to make their ecosystem look plausible. They can't believe they have a chance to sell better than, say, Zune.

Dell has a hard lesson to learn - marketing efforts in a market where you don't dominate create more business for the market leader than they do for you. The people who were only thinking "Dell" start thinking "music", then they actually look at the alternative.

This just re-emphasises that the Dell/Microsoft era is over, and consumers will realise they need to widen their horizons.

Apple's New MacBook: Favorable Price Comparison to Dell

The two take-home points from any proper comparison are (a) Microsoft's hardware partners in general choose not to offer valuable features that Apple products have, because, at the point of purchase, customers don't notice them and choose the cheaper product, and (b) when a branded computer from a Microsoft partner is properly configured as nearly as possible to match an Apple product, it is almost always more expensive, usually by $100-300. (This isn't an accident - Apple carefully evaluates competitor pricing and makes sure it is so).

In this case, Apple simply doesn't make a laptop as poorly specified as the $1119 M1330, let alone one of Dells high volume cheapies.

Apple's New MacBook: Favorable Price Comparison to Dell

Actualy, you should really add about $200 to get a truly comparable Dell 1330 config.The Dell is actually wedge shaped and 1.4 inches thick on the thick end; the config listed is with the crummy four-cell battery. $30 extra for the 6-cell like Macbook's. The weight quoted is with the four cell and the extra cost slimline LED screen which it doesn't have, so you need to add half a pound or so for a comparable weight. The Dell config has no 802.11n ($35 extra), and a home version of the OS rather than the full Vista Ultimate ($150 extra), or even XP Pro ($120? extra) to match full Leopard. It has no gigabit ethernet (unavailable), no power over firewire (unavailable; need power brick for pocket drives etc). No optical sound out for your AV amp either. And no Magsafe power connector. Priced config has no modem, contrary to description.

But it does have an Expresscard 54 slot and a memory card reader.

They are both good computers; the Dell is undoubtedly significantly more expensive, and lacks many of Macbook's subtle Apple qualities (target disk mode, for example).

Dell: Stick A Fork In It

The "can't paint it" story was convincing for a 2 week delay at product launch. It's now clearly nothing to do with the problems, and looks to have been a small problem used to distract from the larger real problem (whatever it is). Where's the problem in scrapping 50% of the painted plastic pieces while you're fixing the painting problem? It would only put cents onto the cost of the laptop.

And how come the overstated earnings were while Michael Dell was CEO and cashing his billions in options at shareholder expense, while the understated earnings were while Rollins was CEO, and the SEC were starting their informal investigation? Doesn't sound like Michael Dell resuming as CEO is in the least bit helpful. Let's see some action from the SEC, please, and some straightforward honesty from the analyst community.

Where's My Dell Ubuntu Linux PC?

I'm exaggerating here a little, but Dell's a logistics and finance company that borrows huge amounts from the companies whose products they deliver, exploiting the misconception that they are a computer company. PC prices for a given configuration fall much faster than average selling prices (which include constant spec improvements). By delaying shipment for 3 weeks after you place the order, Dell gets an aveerage 2-3% extra margin, and also fine-tunes supplier credit for their own convenience.

Increasing the delays increases margin. It also reduces current quarter unit sales. Dell is offsetting this by filling a new sales channel ( Walmart / Sams) in the same quarter. The overall effect being to artificially boost the figures for one more quarter. Don't be fooled; there's no sign of a turnaround yet.