dell

Is there any way to fix Dell's woes?

A new study out from DisplaySearch detailing how well (or poorly) notebook manufacturers performed over the past quarter has hit the Net and the results don't look too promising for Dell.

According to the study, the global notebook market grew by about 24 percent quarter over quarter and a whopping 42 percent year over year. Amazingly, 29 million notebook units were sold in the last quarter alone and HP--the de facto leader in computing right now--commands 21.4 percent of that total, representing 72 percent growth over the same period last year.

But perhaps most startling, Dell has not only lost ground to HP in the notebook market (its share of the market fell 0.2 percent to 13.8 percent), but Acer is hot on Dell's heels and commands 12.8 percent of the total notebook market.

It gets worse: if we were to combine the total share of all Acer properties--Acer, Packard Bell and Gateway--the company's new market share is a whopping 16.2 percent, which not only puts it into second place in the worldwide notebook market, it leaves Dell far behind the pack.

Who could have thought just a few short years ago that Dell would be in such a position? Not only is the company slipping further behind, Acer--a company that had heretofore been an also-ran--has developed into a powerhouse in this industry.

But is there anything Dell can do to turn its business around? Unfortunately, the solution may not be immediately available, and it may need to change its historically successful market strategy in order to do it. If it doesn't, look for Dell to become the industry's also-ran.… Read more

It's Dell's world, and it's a 'World of Warcraft'

Hot on heels of Dell's slim-and-snazzy XPS M1530 and the uberpowerful M1730, the company's latest high-end laptop is the XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition. Yes, it's basically the same 1730 we liked so much a couple of months ago, but this time it's dressed up in exclusive World of Warcraft designs on the wings, LCD back and hinge cover, with WoW original artwork desktop backgrounds and screensavers.

Naturally, there are Horde and Alliance version, and if you have no idea what we're talking about, that's probably a good thing. For your $4,499, you start with a 2.2GHz T7500 Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, and SLI Nvidia 8700 graphics, and you can upgrade from there.

Also included are the retail versions of World of Warcraft and the Burning Crusades expansion (which you probably already have), a "Making of WoW" DVD, a selection of Warcraft novels (sorry, no Kindleversions), a soundtrack CD, and a package of Blizzard goodies, including an in-game pet and a coupon for a custom action figure based on your WoW character. [More photos after the jump.]… Read more

Acer poised to overtake Dell in notebook market

Sales of notebooks are rising worldwide, but Taiwan's Acer, in particular, is continuing its skyrocketing growth.

Market research firm DisplaySearch released its quarterly report on the notebook market Monday, and found that the market grew 24 percent during the three months of the third quarter, and 42 percent in the last year.

Hewlett-Packard remains the worldwide leader in notebooks by shipping 6.2 million portable PCs last quarter--72 percent more than the company shipped a year ago. Dell holds on to second place, but continues to lose ground, not only to HP, but to Acer.

While Dell still has … Read more

Dell stock gets pounded by costs

Despite the fact that Dell is selling more hardware than ever, the stock has been punished recently due to rising expenses.

In the quarter ended Nov. 2, Dell recorded sales of $15.65 billion, exceeding Wall Street's estimate by about $300 million and representing a healthy 9% increase from a year earlier. Net income jumped 27%, to $766 million.

Can we first just recognize that $15.65 billion is an absurdly large number?

But expenses as a percentage of revenue, a key measure of how well the company is managing costs, rose noticeably. Selling, general, and administrative expenses rose … Read more

Dell reports earnings, income up 27 percent

Updated at 3:30 PST with additional comments from Dell.

After more than a year of "preliminary" filings, Dell reported its official quarterly earnings Thursday, garnering $15.6 billion in revenue, and earnings of 34 cents per share.

The company's net income rose 27 percent from $601 million a year ago to $766 million this quarter. Following a tough year for the Round Rock, Texas PC maker, which included the wrap-up of its internal investigation into its accounting practices, supply problems, and the refiling of more than three years' worth of SEC reports, the company reported revenue … Read more

PC market growing at healthy clip

Hewlett-Packard extended its lead in the worldwide PC market in the third quarter, increasing its shipments at more than twice the rate of the rest of the industry.

Shipments from all manufacturers increased to 68.1 million, or 13.8 percent, from the previous year, and 11.1 percent from the previous quarter, according to iSuppli, a market research company that tracks the PC industry. The third quarter is traditionally a good one for computer makers because of increased purchases during the back-to-school buying season.

HP's shipments gave it claim to 19.2 percent of the PC market, followed … Read more

Dell's plan for Zing

If you haven't heard of Zingspot.com yet, you soon might.

It was recently registered by none other than Dell, which also applied for a trademark on the name. (Thanks to the Trademork blog for pointing to it.)

Zingspot is likely related to Zing Systems, a company that Dell acquired in August. Zingspot.com is described in the document filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as "an online consumer portal for digital entertainment content acquisition and distribution." Being a hardware maker, it would make more sense to expect Dell to make a device rather … Read more

Mossberg: Dell looking to become chic

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--Dell. Fashion. Those two words typically aren't used in the same sentence, but the times are changing, says Walt Mossberg.

Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal columnist and dean of gadget reporters worldwide, said during a lunchtime speech at the Dow Jones Consumer Innovations Conference taking place this week that the Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker is concentrating more on industrial design and technological features that can differentiate their products.

It's a bit of a reversal. Dell came to prominence through direct sales and streamlining supply chains, not coming out with innovative products. But Michael Dell … Read more

Dell unveils the XPS M1530 laptop

Tuesday morning Dell officially announced the XPS M1530 laptop, a 15-inch version of the wildly popular 13-inch XPS M1330. Of course, pretty much every detail about this new system has already leaked, but we're still pretty excited, as the XPS M1330 was easily one of our favorite laptops of 2007.

With a shockingly sophisticated design for the usually middle-of-the-road Dell, an LED backlit screen (the new 15-inch version has a CCFL panel instead), thin profile (less than 1 inch in the front), and slot-loading DVD drive, it was hard not to love the 13-inch version, even if some fans … Read more