Is Dell era ending soon, now that it start selling PC to Wal-mart?

Question

Do you think so? It's like Wal-Mart give up on EDLP?

Answer 1

No. I think changes are on the horizon.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what you mean by the Dell "era," but selling through Walmart seems like a bad idea to me, if for no other reason that that the machine being sold is a very "dumbed-down" box made just for Walmart. Gross.

Which means that Dell is going to considered as just another piece of junk, which can't possibly reflect well on their reputation, which is already soiled by their incredibly bad approach to service for individual users -so bad, in fact, they've been dragged into court over it.

Its Gateway all over again. Those idiots published a so-called "Golden On-site Warranty," numbering some 23 pages and including fine print that said they'll do the on site thing only if they want to. Federal Trade Commission had a hay-day with that puppy.

But I digress.

Where the money is -is corporate, business and government sales. It is there that the big players: IBM, HP and Dell (OK, and Sun, some) do battle for the big dollars. ASnd since those places usually have specialized employees who know more about the equipment than do the manufacturers themselves, service gets easier. So easy, in fact, that many customers are "self-certified" as their own warranty repair centers. All they do is send back bad parts for good ones, and handle all the configuration and software issues themselves. How cool is that for Dell? Very cool.

Given that even the simplist PC is a complex combination of stuff, and given the nature of Microsoft's inability or unwillingness to produce really stable products, and given the "dumb-down" of the Dell machine, and given a user interface designed to protect the PC from the user, and given the unsophisticated mentality of your typical Walmart customer -given ALL THAT, it is a virtual guarantee that Walmart and Dell will be besieged with angry, desparate and threatening calls and visits from users who will demand justice.

The whole stinkin' thing will crash and burn, leaving bloody and charred out remains like some horrendous head-on auto accident. You gotta wonder, you really gotta wonder -how Dell can't see it coming.

Whatever you do, don't get a Dell from Walmart. And if someone you know is getting ready to do it, throw yourself in front of them, grab their ankles and plead, "Don't go in there!"

Answer 3

Dell is struggling to regain its position as the leading seller of PC's. Wal-Mart has an excellent distribution channel. I believe that Dell will be building a lower-cost, lower-quality PC for distribution at Wal-Mart. Like so many other products these days, it won't be the same product you're used to. It'll just have the same name.

Answer 4

The Dell era is over. Their competitive moat has been lost. It was inevitable.
The consumer is no longer attracted to customized PCs. For $600, PCs offer more speed, more memory, and more features than most people use. Their is still a narrow market for customized PCs but the geeks have plenty to choose from. Customer service has become less of an issue as hardware has become cheaper, more dependable, and more standardized. They are now appliances like TV sets.
Dell is a well managed company that will new ways to make money but their golden era is dead.

Answer 5

Dell is screwed big time.
They are selling tons of low end PC's that they make zero profit (going into Walmart isn't going to help).

They are losing ground to HP in the business arena, because they don't have a full product line.

No thin clients, crappy blades, no systems support for things like Citrix and VMWare.

Answer 6

They're selling linux boxes in wal-mart though. I think my head's gonna explode at the paradox of selling linux machines in a wal-mart.

Answer 7

No. I think they are interested in recapturing the lead that they recently lost to HP. Michael Dell is back in control and wants to turn it around.

Answer 8

Lol yes.