DELL - auf Erholung?

Aus der Businessweek von 23.02.06.....ziemlich interessant......
Dell fehlt Innovation, das "alte Lied", über den Preis zu verkaufen zieht anscheinend nicht mehr. Eine Lösung (gemäsds Artikel) wären z.B. eigene Verkaufsläden. Die Leute wollen das Zeugs begrabschen bevor sie es kaufen....MP3-Player, Kameras, etc.
Ebenfalls werden mehr Ausgaben für Forschung und Entwicklung gefordert.
Desweiteren sind AMD Chips zur Zeit das was die Konsumenten wollen, ....Dell bleibt aber stur.

Bildet euerte eigene Meinung....Ich pers. sehe Dell's Zukunft leider nicht so rosig. Heisst aber nichts, denn das habe ich schon vor vier Jahren verzapft, und es war immer falsch

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It's Dell vs. the Dell Way

How the PC maker's once-revolutionary sales strategy may actually be holding it back

During a conference call on Feb. 16 to announce quarterly results, Dell (DELL) executives unleashed a torrent of impressive numbers. Earnings grew 52%, to $1 billion. Sales rose 13%, to $15.2 billion. And the company said it increased market share, already tops on a global basis, in every region around the world. "Our promise to you is that we intend to grow and take share, as we have historically," said Chief Executive Kevin B. Rollins.

Yet Dell's investors keyed in on another number: Sales growth for the coming quarter would be just 6% to 9%, the company said, a far cry from the 16% Dell posted a year earlier. The following day, Dell shares slid 5%, to $30, bringing the decline over the past year to 25%.

On Feb. 22, Dell said it would postpone an annual analyst meeting scheduled for April until September, a move that gives the company more time to improve its performance before the public affair.

"THE NEXT PARADIGM." For the past 22 years, Dell has laid waste to mighty rivals with one of the most groundbreaking business innovations of the past half-century: selling technology products directly to customers via the telephone, and later the Internet, instead of going through retail stores or resellers. But now the remaining competitors, such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), have narrowed the gap in productivity and price.

That leaves Dell in a tight spot. Rollins and Michael S. Dell, founder and now chairman, must either come up with another breakthrough innovation or face a future of slugging it out on near-equal footing with rivals. "Michael broke the paradigm about how to run a computer business, but they haven't been so great at finding the next paradigm," says David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School. "That's the big challenge for Dell the company and for Michael."

This looks like the year Dell will be pushed harder than ever to reinvent itself. Rollins wasn't available to comment for this story. But he and his top managers are weighing several steps that would represent sharp breaks with the past, including loosening its relationships with Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC), the two companies most responsible for Dell's dominance in the PC business. Dell is in talks to install key search software from Google (GOOG) on its computers in exchange for payments of as much as $1 billion over three years. Such a deal is sure to antagonize Microsoft, which has been trying to gain ground against Google in search.

CONSUMER PRESSURE Dell has also reopened negotiations with Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), according to one well-placed source. Dell is considering offering PCs and servers built on AMD processors, a move that would mark the first time Dell has bought processors for its machines from a supplier other than Intel. The source cautions that talks have been serious in the past and failed, and they could falter again.

Yet analysts say what's different this time is the rising pressure on Dell to offer AMD chips, since AMD is swiping market share from Intel. "Customers want AMD," says Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co. "If Dell doesn't offer their chips, it has less ammunition in the war."

Dell has long been known for its strict financial and operational discipline. But some in the industry say what's needed now is a willingness to experiment, perhaps with larger acquisitions, perhaps with selling through retailers or resellers. "Dell is still singing the same old song," says analyst Mark D. Stahlman of Caris & Co. "It's time for them to change."

The world is clearly changing around Dell. The once-torrid growth in sales of personal computers has slowed, to about 5% a year. More surprising, consumers seem less enamored of buying their tech wares over the Web or phone. According to researcher NPD Group, the percentage of PC sales done via the phone and Web fell last year, and the share of sales through U.S. retail stores rose, as people flocked to shops to fiddle with new gear such as digital-music players, digital cameras, and slick laptops.

PLAIN PCS Consumers' buying habits are a reflection of a broader shift in the technology world. People are mesmerized by new digital gear with unique features and style. Commodity technologies, such as plain-vanilla PCs, are passe.

That's a difficult development for Dell. It spends less on research and development ($463 million) than Apple Computer (AAPL) ($534 million), despite being four times Apple's size. "Not investing in R&D works great in the commoditized PC world," says Vinnie Muscolino, general partner with Babson Capital Management. "It doesn't work as well in other areas."

That's not to say Dell is broken. It's the global leader in PC market share, with 17.2%, and most analysts expect it to continue to gain share even without any significant changes to its approach. One reason is that Dell has room to expand in fast-growing markets such as China. And Dell is making progress in offering basic computer installation and maintenance services to businesses as well as in reselling back-office storage gear from partner EMC Corp.

NEED FOR INNOVATION But Dell is losing its reputation as a must-own growth stock in the tech field. With its inconsistent financial results over much of last year, several big shareholders have headed for the exits. Citigroup, insurer AXA, and Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management have each slashed their holdings in Dell by 80% in recent months, according to filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Dell's market cap has dropped below that of Hewlett-Packard, with HP worth $92 billion and Dell at $70 billion.

Dell's greatest difficulties are related to one of its biggest opportunities: consumers. Operating margins for Dell's consumer business were an estimated 3.8% in the fourth quarter, despite an attempt to reduce reliance on low prices. While Dell remains a leader in selling home PCs, it hasn't made inroads in selling more lucrative gear like portable music players. "Innovation is now front and center," says analyst Stahlman.

Can Dell get back on track with consumers? Job One is to fix its poor reputation for customer service: The Better Business Bureau saw complaints more than double last year, to 1,533. Dell has already boosted its support staff in North America by 20% and is planning another call center in India.

CHANGING TIMES Dell may have to do even more. Some analysts say it's time for the company to invest more in R&D to spice up products. That's not happening so far. Dell recently axed one research group assigned to examine and prepare for future trends.

Putting more money into R&D. Selling through retail stores. Breaking with Intel. None of these steps sound anything like Dell. The fact that analysts are raising these ideas underscores how dramatically the times are changing. If Rollins and Dell want to keep up the company's image as one of the great stock market performers of all time, they may have to think different.

Solche Nachrichten scheinen (zumindest heute) zu helfen: Über 2% verbessert.
Wenigstens tun sie was :-)

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Dow Jones
Dell will Belegschaft in Indien in drei Jahren verdoppeln
Montag 20. März 2006, 10:21 Uhr

MUMBAI (Dow Jones)--Die Dell Inc, Round Rock, will ihre Belegschaft in Indien über die nächsten drei Jahre auf 20.000 verdoppeln. "Wir werden eine große Beschäftigungsoffensive bei Ingenieuren starten" sagte Michael Dell im indischen Bangalore.

Der US-Computerhersteller plane darüber hinaus die Verdoppelung des Personals im Hardware-Bereich auf 600 innerhalb eines Jahres. Im Januar hatte Dell bereits angekündigt, seine Mitarbeiterzahl in Indien in zwei Jahren auf 15.000 aufzustocken. Die Mehrheit des neuen Personals wolle Dell in seinen Call Centern beschäftigen.

Zur geplanten Errichtung einer neuen Rechner-Fabrik für den indischen Markt sagte Dell, das Unternehmen beschäftige sich mit der Standortfrage. Aussagen zum Zeitpunkt einer Entscheidung wollte Dell nicht machen. -Von Abhrajit Gangopadhyay, Dow Jones Newswires; + 49 (0)69 - 29 725 103 unternehmen.de@dowjones.com DJG/DJN/flf/mim

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Nicht zu fassen, ....Microsoft verschiebt sein neues Betriebssystem und XP-Nachfolger "Vista" erneut ! ! !
Unglaublich ! Das war mal für 04 geplant. Da werden Milliarden ausgegeben für die Entwicklung und trotzdem kriegen die Redmonder das nicht gebacken, ....

Nun, mir persönlich kann Windows so lang wie breit sein. Aber es war ein letzter Hoffnungsschimmer für Dell, HP, Intel und Co. Viele User zögern mit dem Kauf eines neuen Rechners. Sie schieben den Kauf so weit wie möglich hinaus.

Ein neues Betriebssystem hätte für Dell and friends positive Impulse gesetzt. Ich hätte sogar auf Dell als Outperformer in der zweiten Jahreshälfte gewettet....Aber so ???

Die Meldung:
https://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060321-6433.html

Kommentare von Grossen (gut für Apple's unabhängigkeit) :
https://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/3/21/3290

Gruss

PS: Als Apple-User :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Als Tech-Investor: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Muss noch anfügen:
https://www.macguardians.de/?p=4179&c=1#comments
Man scheint sich einig zu sein: Microsoft will sich noch etwas Zeit lassen, um die im Juni kommenden Apple-Neuigkeiten noch kurz zu kopieren und zu integrieren. Diesem Grund schliesse ich mich absolut an.

Es kommt dazu, dass die ganze Industrie sich langsam aber sicher in einem Kopierschutz-Wirrwarr verrennt. Entwickler stehen mit ihrem Rechtemanagement-Seich sich selber im Weg. Es müssen endlich Standards her. Auch Content-Anbieter, gerade Sony, sollten sich vermehrt der Konkurrenz öffnen.

Open Source (Linux und teilweise Apple) profitieren vom Zulauf. Dell wäre gut beraten, sich endlich von dieser Windows-Abhängigkeit etwas zu befreien. Kisten mit installiertem Linux ausliefern, wie HP einst. Oder Mac OS X lizenzieren.

Es tut sich so viel zur Zeit...und Microsoft bleibt stehen...die Kundschaft lässt man im Regen stehen :-(

Gruss, genervt, beta.

Mal abgesehen vom verschobenen "Vista-Betriebssystem", hier etwas aubauenderes.

Dell kauft Alienware.
Über den Preis ist nichts bekannt, aber für Dell wichtiger:
Damit verschafft sich Dell quasi durch die Hintertür mehr Unabhängigkeit von Intel !
Es werden vor allem die "Gamer" angesprochen, die schreien schon lange nach AMD...und diese Zielgruppe ist GROSS.

So bleibt der Haussegen gewahrt (Partnerschaft mit Intel). Gleichzeitig hat man AMD on board.

Find ich gut, dass Dell langsam aus seinem Winterschlaf (welcher sich über einige Saisons hinzog) erwacht.

(Den BuisinessWeek Artikel muss ich reinkopieren....hab immer Mühe mit Links auf diese Seite, manchmal gehts, manchmal nicht.)

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Dell Goes High-end and Hip
With its purchase of Alienware, the PC maker is going for the lucrative gaming market. It may also signal a different strategy on chips

Dell may be breaking out of the box. Often criticized for garden-variety PCs that differ little from competing consumer brands, Dell on Mar. 22 said it would buy Alienware, a maker of high-end computers popular among gaming enthusiasts -- and anything but ordinary.

Pressure on Dell (DELL) to break with some longstanding traditions is high. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and other competitors have vastly improved product performance and customer service, while Dell's service ratings are in the doldrums and recent sales have disappointed investors. Dell CEO Kevin Rollins and Chairman Michael Dell are on the hunt for ways to jump-start growth.

The Alienware deal is indeed an unusual move for a company that had made only two acquisitions in its 22-year history. Buying Miami-based Alienware may be well-timed, given that recent efforts by Dell to revitalize its high-end product line have failed to wow analysts.

WHITHER XPS? In September, the PC maker staged a splashy relaunch of its XPS line of desktop and notebooks, which -- like Alienware's machines -- are aimed at affluent households and hardcore gamers (see BW Online, 9/23/05, "Will Dell's Up-Market Move Compute?"). Dell said in February that unit volumes of XPS machines rose 20% in the most recent quarter from a year earlier, but didn't elaborate.

Some analysts, however, don't see the XPS line, which starts at about $1,000 for a desktop and $2,000 for a notebook, as bringing much benefit to Dell. "We don't think it's an important driver of growth," says Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brent Bracelin. "XPS is a low-volume product," says Charles Wolf, analyst at Needham & Co. "If you're going to spend that kind of money, get a Mac."a€š A Dell spokesman says despite the Alienware purchase, the company is "not backing off its support of XPS."

Alienware takes Dell in a new direction on chips, too. Dell for the first time will sell machines that run on AMD (AMD) microprocessors. Dell has purchased all the chips for its computers from Intel (INTC). But recently, consumers and business customers have increasingly demanded machines that run on AMD chips. Alienware buys chips from AMD and Intel, and Dell says Alienware is likely to continue its supply agreement with both vendors.

"A SEPARATE ENTITY." In an interview with BusinessWeek in November, Alienware CEO Nelson Gonzalez said, "We use whatever's the best. Whether it's Intel or AMD doesn't matter to us."

At least one analyst believes that Alienware provides Dell a "backdoor" way to sell some AMD-based products without alienating Intel, which pays Dell hundreds of millions of dollars a year to use Intel chips. "The simplest way (for Dell to sell AMD-based machines) is to buy another brand that already uses AMD," says Caris & Co. analyst Mark Stahlman.

Dell appears to want to rock the boat at Alienware as little as possible, at least for now. A Dell spokesman says Alienware will operate "as a separate entity" and that the two companies won't cross-market or cross-promote products. Alienware is expected to maintain its existing tech-support center. Like Dell, Alienware sells only through "direct" channels, distributing via the phone and Internet and bypassing retailers and resellers. In that respect, Dell "is the company to follow. Their model is what works," said Gonzalez last November.

GOOSING GROWTH. But Dell likely will help Alienware become more effective in managing its supply chain and negotiating with vendors, moves that could make it more efficient and help it increase production. "There's no reason why the Alienware brand can't be as large as the Dell brand, given the right resources," says Stahlman.

And possibly the most important contrast between Alienware and its new parent: growth. To be sure, Alienware's sales volume, which according to Gonzales was about $172 million for the fiscal year ended last September, is a mere drop in the bucket to Dell. Sales at the PC-making giant totaled $55.9 billion in the most recent fiscal year, which ended Feb. 3. Alienware's sales increased 50% in most recent fiscal year.

Dell expects sales growth of 6% to 9% in the current quarter, a big drop from the 16% a year earlier (see BW Online, 2/23/05, "It's Dell vs. the Dell Way"). And Dell certainly doesn't want to make a tradition of slowing sales growth.

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Gruss

Mit solchen Urteilen wird Dell wohl kaum Vertrauen bei Investoren erringen.....
Wir haben schon des öfteren auf die Tatsache hingewiesen, dass Verkauf nur über den Preis auf die Länge nicht gutgehen wird....Dazu ist von Inovation weit und breit nichts zu sehen :? Das Dell-Modell am Ende?

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Dell slammed as Citigroup cuts to sell


MarketWatch, 4/21/2006 10:40:00 AM


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Dell Inc. shares fell almost 4% Friday after Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner cut his rating on the No. 1 personal-computer company to sell on concerns about the company's growth rates and eroding margins.

Gardner didn't just lower Dell (DELL) to sell, he cut his rating by two full notches from his previous opinion of buy, cut his price target on the stock to $28 a share from $37, and lowered his fiscal year earnings-per-share forecasts on Dell for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Investors showed their displeasure with Dell, sending the company's shares down to a 52-week low of $27.07 at one point in early trading.

Gardner said that the company is being negatively impacted by several factors, including declining demand in its main, corporate end markets, and cost-cutting by competitors. Gardner also pointed to data from technology research firm IDC, which on Thursday released information about the size of the U.S. PC market.

The IDC figures cited flat PC shipment growth for Dell in the U.S. during the first quarter of this year, and only 5% year-over-year growth for the entire U.S. PC market. As a result, Gardner said Dell is sure to feel the pinch of one of its most-important business areas.

"In the face of likely further slowing in end market growth domestically, near-term prospect for Dell's most-profitable end market do not seem bright," Gardner wrote in a research note.

Gardner added that one of Dell's traditional advantages over its competitors -- the keep of just a few days worth of supply and materials on hand -- isn't as beneficial as it was in the past. Gardner said that while Dell has used its streamlined inventory system to create an 8% to 12% cost advantage over its rivals, those competitors have begun to implement supplier arrangements similar to Dell.

As a result, Gardner said the combination of competitors streamlining their operations, implementing more build-to-order capabilities, and continuing component price declines, has cut Dell's inventory price advantage to, at most, 3%.

Gardner said he believe Dell needs to reset its margins in order to spur new customer acquisitions and boost sales over the next two years. Gardner said there is some precedent for such a move, and pointed to how in 2000 Dell cut its margins by 330 basis points, or 3.3%, in one quarter in order to put it in a better position for the next upturn in the PC business.

However, Gardner said such a move isn't without risk, and that Dell would have to "reduce gross margins by at least several hundred basis points in order to achieve the desired re-acceleration in growth."

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Gruss

Hi Cybercrash

Du hast sicher in vielen Teilen Deiner Meinung recht. Was Banken mit ihren hoch bezahlten Analysten alles Bewegen können ist klar !

Aber es gibt da schon ein paar Unterschiede zwischen HP und Dell, und zwar nicht ganz unbedeutende.

HP hat eine Umstrukturierung hinter sich! HP-Chefin Fiona Carly weg, mit ihr 15'000 weitere Stellen. Zweitgrösster Kistenschieber, grösster Druckerbastler. Die Smartphones tragen erheblich zum Geschäftsverlauf bei, werden aber in die PC-Sparte miteingerechnet. HP verdient auch mit Software mittlerweie ordentlich Geld. Und da war ja noch Compaq.....anfangs verlief die Integration langsam. Doch dieses Jahr ist für HP das Jahr der Wahrheit. Solche Umstrukturierungen dauern ein bis max. zwei Jahre, we will see.
1Q war ja sehr gut, 2.Q wird saisonal bedingt umsatzschwächer sein, was nicht heissen muss, dass auch der Gewinn schwächelt.


Wo HP heute (Kursmässig) steht weiss ich nicht mal, aber dass sie lange flach lagen sehr wohl. Für meinen Geschmack zu lange. Und ich fürchte langsam, dass es Dell ähnlich ergehen wird.

Was macht also Dell bis jetzt: Immer noch nix. Mir unverständlich. Ich persnl. will nicht aussitzen, dafür bin ich zu wenig Kaufkräftig. Das ist wie bei Intel: Ab 19$ ziehe ich Leine.

Meine Strategie: Verluste begrenzen, sprich Verluste eben realisieren :-(
Das geht nicht immer und es ist schwer einzuhalten, ausserdem spielen oft mehrere Faktoren mit,...... aber ich arbeite dran ;-)

Die Weisheit hab ich leider auch nicht mit dem Löffel gefressen, aber als Hobby-CEO sag ich mal gibt es nur noch eines für Dell: Früher oder später mit HP zusammen gehen :-) :-)

Gruss

Mr. Dell über Intel, AMD, Apple & co......

https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1957355,00.asp
danach Link wie im Bild beschrieben wählen...

Gruss