BUSINESS
'We aim to be number 1 again' says Dell
09-10-2002
by Ralph Averbuch
Despite a downturn in the EMEA PC market, Dell says it is experiencing sales growth in key European markets and that it is still number one in Ireland.
Speaking on Wednesday at a media briefing in Munich, Pierre Vigna, Dell's EMEA desktop director, said "We've picked a few markets where we've said, 'OK, we're going to focus on how to grow.' That meant we've picked the big markets of Germany and France, with the UK in between."
In practice, this has led to some impressive overall results for Dell, which has a major operation in Ireland, employing over 5,000 in Limerick, Dublin and Bray. According to IDC, in Q2 of 2002 Dell sat at the number two position in commercial desktops and workstations and at number four in consumer PCs. Nonetheless, it is in the consumer area that Dell has seen the biggest year-on-year growth, gaining 14 percent, IDC claims.
Dell's market share remains strong in key European markets. Though small, Ireland is its biggest success: it enjoys 37 percent of the market here and holds the number one spot. It holds the number two spot in the UK and France and number three in Germany, giving it an overall number two slot across EMEA.
Not everything is going Dell's way, however. The recent merger of the operations of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq pushed it from the top spot in EMEA workstation sales down to number two, and the company sees its next big challenge as regaining the market lead. "By the end of next year we aim to be number one again," Vigna explained. "We need to grab that position back. We were number one for a long time but I think that it's a good challenge for us as it reminds us to remain humble and challenge our attitudes."
Going forward, the challenge for Dell is in contending not just with other PC manufacturers but with the increasing amount of time both the corporate and home-user markets take before upgrading systems. In addition, Dell and its immediate competitors face rivalling demands for spending from a slew of alternative devices, such as PDAs, multi-function mobile handsets and other digital devices, all vying for consumer attention.
Faced with these challenges, Dell is seeking to ensure that its line of PC products will maintain and grow market position by out-performing the competition in terms of functionality and versatility. This is backed by the imminent announcement of a range of new PC models for the corporate, consumer and small-business markets. While Dell is keeping a tight rein on details, ElectricNews.Net can report that a new line of 3Ghz Intel chips will shortly come as an option, incorporating Hyper-Threading technology. This technology effectively allows one processor to appear as two to the operating system, bringing significant performance benefits.
The Intel relationship remains strong at Dell, with Pierre Vigna signalling little immediate likelihood of the company adopting AMD chips into their product line. "There are a lot of costs associated with having dual suppliers, which today means we don't see the benefits of doing this".
Dell also plans to expand its peripheral offerings with a line of Dell-branded printers planned for the first half of 2003 and built by ex-IBM-owned Lexmark. Dell claims these printers will incorporate some customised technology specific to Dell's needs. No formal announcement was made on the company's plans to roll out a Dell-branded PDA.
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