“No longer the No. 1 personal computer maker in the world, Dell is close to losing the top spot in the U.S. as well,” Patrick Seitz reports for Investor’s Business Daily.
“It would be another reminder of how far the once-mighty Dell has fallen, and how far it has to go to make a comeback,” Seitz reports.
“Dell was No. 1 in worldwide PC sales until the third quarter of 2006, when HP took a lead that it still holds. Now, HP is poised to grab the U.S. lead,” Seitz reports.
“The company is slated to report fiscal fourth-quarter results on Feb. 26,” Seitz reports. “HP is slated to report its fiscal first-quarter results on Feb. 18.”
“In the fourth quarter, Dell shipped 4.47 million PCs in the U.S, compared with 4.29 million for HP, according to Gartner,” Seitz reports. “That quarter, Dell’s U.S. PC market share slipped to 28.6% from 30.8% a year earlier.”
“Dell’s market-share loss last quarter was as much the result of gains by smaller vendors as it was by HP, says Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa,” Seitz reports. “Acer made substantial gains because of its lead in netbooks, a low-cost category of notebook PCs. Apple and Toshiba increased their market shares as well.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, but Apple does it with healthy margins about which the others can only dream. Stamping out crappy netbooks is great for market share numbers, but without margins, what’s the point? You can’t make it up in volume. Apple is the only company with a unique product line for which people are willing to pay healthy amounts (see: NPD: Apple corners premium market; Apple’s market share of PCs over $1,000 hits 66% – May 19, 2008. This allows Apple to thrive, spend on R&D, and continue to innovate. While the PC box assemblers lay people off and cut everywhere they can in order to support selling $500 (and less) craptops, Apple invests in research, design, software, and all of other things that the rest ignore.
Furthermore, developers would be wise to recognize which platform’s users have money, understand quality, and are willing to actually pay for it vs. those trolling the ‘Net or roaming around Wal-Mart looking for the lowest sticker prices. You’re trying to sell software, not NASCAR T-shirts or check cashing services. Make your product for people with taste and money and the proven will to spend it.
Seitz continues, “Dell’s hold on the U.S. top spot depends on the health of the corporate and enterprise market, analysts say. With daily news of layoffs and corporate cutbacks, this quarter looks bad for the enterprise PC market, IDC analyst Richard Shim says.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There’s nowhere for Dell to go. Trying to increase margins by offering OS-limited boxes is fruitless. Dell can’t compete with Apple in industrial design and they certainly can’t compete with Apple in operating systems and bundled software (iLife). Only Apple Macintosh offers consumers real value: OS-unlimited machines with unmatched, award-winning industrial design. As Apple keeps reaping profits and the beleaguered box assemblers keep cutting everywhere they possibly can (and probably even where they shouldn’t), the gulf only widens. At least HP can keep fleecing people with printer cartridges — margins, margins, margins! — however, besides a bunch of corporate IT zombies hitting a reorder button every 18-36 months, Dell has nothing. And even those doofuses will wake up eventually; it’s already started. If only you could see just a few moves ahead, Mikey, you’d SIDAGTMBTTS today.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Brawndo Drinker” and “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
