Dell goes direct into Wal-Mart's clutches
Low prices meet always low prices
The dream of walking into a single store to purchase a messenger style diaper bag, an easy listening Piano Tribute to Coldplay CD, an engagement ring and a Dell computer for under $1,000 has become a reality.
Dell peered into consumer hearts and materialized this secret fancy with mega chain, Wal-Mart. The PC vendor, which has until now relied solely on direct sales is offering its wares at 3,500 Wal-Mart stores in the United States and Canada as of June 10.
Wal-Mart will sell two Dimension desktop bundles currently available through Dell direct for under $700. Dell will offer Dimension E521 desktops without a monitor and E521s with a 19-inch flat panel on store shelves.
Dell has been promising to "ramp up" retailer and reseller partnerships worldwide to combat lost sales to computer makers such as HP and Lenovo who offer their products in stores. Last year, Hewlett-Packard overtook Dell as the No. 1 computer seller worldwide.
The company makes a point on its blog that retail offerings will not replace its core direct business model, even though more retail announcements are coming.
Dell Ubuntu systems unveiled
Rumor-hounds have had a rough idea of the systems Dell would vend loaded with Ubuntu — but now they're officially official.
Two desktop models and a laptop will be sold, factory installed with the open-source operating system. The XPS 410n (starting price: $849), Dimension E520n desktop and Inspiron E1505n notebook (both starting at $599) will be available today from Dell with the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux distribution.
A XPS 410 with Windows currently starts at $899 at Dell. A $50 markdown is a small, but welcome sight to Linux fans who were actually paying paying more for the free operating system over Windows during Dell's original short-lived Linux offering in 2000.
Dell said the Linux systems will be available on their website to US customers beginning today. ®
COMMENTS
ASDA
Does this mean in the UK dell will eventually sell through Asda?
Ubuntu means lower support cost than Vista
Dell seem to be taking into consideration the fact that Ubuntu already just works on their systems and can be installed with less skill in less time than Vista. That was my experience anyway. So maybe the better Ubuntu system price allows something for more reliable software meaning Dell have to provide less support time.
Considering...
...that the monitor is almost one third of the price of the $599... $409 is not bad for the machine. Just hope it does not fall apart or anything. The 2-3 year old Optiplex GX280 ones we have here in the lab are great. At least mine, running SuSE 9.2, because my friend with Win XP is suffering badly with lack of memory and general slowness (computers bought at the same time, both with XP, mine immediately reformatted...:-).
The OEM Windows license cost
OEM Windows was US$30 for Windows 2000 when I was building PCs as an OEM, and I rather doubt that's changed for XP. The wide variety of Vista options probably means the price point varies between $30 and $50 (but anyone buying Vista deserves to be gouged considerably more than that anyway).
Randy must be pouting...
...or he's smirking behind Mark's back. This is, of course, referring to Mr. Mott's former life as both VP/CIO of Wal*Mart and Dell.
Of course, Dell is now "playing with the big boys" in retail. Wal*Mart is the TOUGHEST company to work with as a supplier: their low price promise is strictly enforced by POUNDING their suppliers to cut everything to the bone. And Dell will need to match up with Wal*Mart's supply chain - arguably the finest in ANY industry.
On the other hand, as an anonymous vendor rep once told me as I gave him a ride from Fayetteville to Bentonville one dark and stormy night: "Wal*Mart forces us to nearly lose money on everything we sell to them - but the VOLUME we do with them is so huge it is worth the loss of margin to maintain the relationship." Selling through the world's largest retailer does have some compensation: as Sam Walton once said "Sell 'em cheap and blow 'em out the doors!"
