Dell sees room to challenge Apple in tablets

LONDON — A growing dissatisfaction among office workers with the clunky computers their employers force them to use, in contrast to the sleek Apple devices many have at home, could yet benefit incumbent suppliers like Dell, a top Dell executive said.

As Apple’s third-generation iPad went on sale on Friday, accompanied by the now traditional scenes of fans queuing round the block , Dell’s chief commercial officer Steve Felice said the tablet market was still wide open.

Dell ditched its previous attempt at cracking the global tablet market, the Streak, last year. It was based on Google’s Android operating system software.

Now Dell is planning a fresh assault with the advent of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating platform, which is expected later this year and will have a touch interface that works across desktop computers, tablets and smartphones.

“We’re very encouraged by the touch capability we are seeing in the beta versions of Windows 8,” Felice told Reuters in an interview in London, adding that Dell may also make Android tablets again.

“We have a roadmap for tablets that we haven’t announced yet. You’ll see some announcements.. for the back half of the year,” he said. “We don’t think that this market is closed off in any way.”

Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and possibly Nokia are also planning Windows 8 tablets.

Felice said that Dell’s relationships with its thousands of business customers gave it an advantage over Apple, whose gadgets can cause headaches for IT departments because they operate on different systems.

As iPads and iPhones have become popular from the boardroom down, corporate technology chiefs have been increasingly forced to accept the fact that employees will use their own devices.

“On the commercial side there are a lot of concerns about security, interoperability, systems and device management, and I think Dell is in the best position to meet those,” Felice said.

He added that iPads also left much to be desired in terms of processing power and ease of typing. “When people put their computer to the side and take their iPad with them to travel, you see a lot of compromises being made.”

Dell has also just launched a so-called ultrabook, a high-end notebook that is light and thin but still at least as powerful as a regular laptop. The XPS 13 costs about $995.

“The demand has been excellent since we launched this product just a week ago,” Felice said. “It is a fantastic product and shows our commitment to the PC space. We like the PC space. We are extremely committed to it.”

Dell, the world’s third-biggest computer maker after HP and Lenovo, has also been expanding its services offering to reduce its dependence on sales of computers, where margins are being squeezed and growth is slowing.

Taking Mac and iPad sales together, Apple sold more computers last year than any of the top PC makers.

Asked whether he envied Apple’s ability to produce such coveted objects, Felice said: “We come at the market in a different way … We are predominantly a company that has a great eye on the commercial customer who also wants to be a consumer.”

“In the areas where we come at the market, we think we are a coveted brand.”

source: interaksyon.com

New Dell head honcho to focus on SMB, BPO sectors in PH

MANILA, Philippines — The newly installed country manager for Dell Philippines vowed to build on the stepping stones prepared by his predecessors as he kicks into high gear the local unit’s foray into the small and medium businesses (SMB) and business process outsourcing (BPO) markets.

Christopher Papa, erstwhile Dell country manager for its consumer business, has been promoted to the overall country manager post following the departure of Ricky Lopez, the country manager for Dell’s commercial business.

InterAksyon.com learned on Tuesday that Lopez had assumed his new role as the Channels Group Director at Microsoft Philippines on February 6.

In an interview at the sidelines of the Dell 12th-generation servers launch on Wednesday, Papa said two of his key growth areas for the Philippines are the SMB and BPO sectors.

“Based on IDC’s outlook, we still have a lot of legroom on the [SMB sector],” Papa said. “Our growth targets are going to be a combination of various sectors, but SMB will definitely be part of our expansion.”

The Dell executive, meanwhile, deferred to the growth prospects of the local BPO industry from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), which is seeing a steep 20 percent growth rate this year.

“BPO has always been a major market for Dell, so with that, we are going to see growth in that area,” Papa added.

On the consumer side, Papa said they would continue to focus on delivering on the medium- and high-price band ranges, which in recent months saw the launching of the Dell XPS 14z and XPS 15z, two high-end units that the company is eyeing for profit.

The executive, however, refused to divulge the specific revenue shares of each of its business units, although he pointed out that the enterprise business comprises 30 percent of its global business.

Just recently, Dell announced a global shift away from merely providing desktop and laptop units to businesses and end-users, suggesting a strategic move toward providing IT services to customers.

Before assuming his current post, Papa oversaw the local unit’s consumer business in the country, bringing a host of notebook releases to the Philippines as well as Dell’s initial foray into consumer-grade tablets and smartphones.

Papa was part of Dell Philippines’ segmentation strategy in 2010, which saw three core business units–the commercial, SMB and consumer segments–being handled by three different top executives. He initially handled the SMB segment for that year.

This year, however, saw the consolidation of those three management roles back into a single leadership position, which Papa has recently been appointed to.

Papa was promoted to the overall country manager position at the end of January.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell Unveils The XPS 14z

MANILA, Philippines — Dell has unveiled its XPS 14z laptop, one of the thinnest fully featured 14-inch laptops featuring an internal optical drive and discrete graphics option. The latest in a series of thin-and-powerful solutions from Dell that include thin laptops, desktops and accessories, the XPS 14z delivers performance that impresses and design that inspires. Professionals now can power through their day at work and kick back at night to take advantage of the system’s HD screen to watch movies or video.

The XPS 14z is a sleek laptop with a compact design that measures in at less than an inch thin. The unique design also maximizes screen size, delivering a 14-inch screen in a 13-inch form factor.

The XPS 14z is the latest member of Dell’s portfolio of thin-and-powerful solutions, and the second such solution in the XPS family, joining the successful XPS 15z laptop.

Dell’s thin-and-powerful solutions now include the Inspiron 13z laptop, Inspiron 14z laptop, and the Inspiron One all-in-one computer that are ideal solutions for parents and students, as well as the Vostro V131 laptop for small businesses. All solutions are designed to deliver impressive performance in beautiful packages.

The XPS 14z is the classic example of style and substance. Customers will get more with this laptop: more screen size, and surprising portability for such a fully-loaded laptop.

The 14-inch HD display easily fits into a 13-inch laptop form factor –while offering 10 percent more viewing area than a 13.3” display. And starting at just 4.36 pounds1, less than an inch thin, and up to six hours, 42 minutes of battery life2, it also has the easy portability of a 13-inch laptop. The XPS 14z’s uncompromising performance helps busy professionals achieve their personal and professional pursuits – and look good while doing it. The XPS 14z is visually striking, with a slim, yet powerful form synonymous with innovation. Its anodized-aluminum finish is stylish and sophisticated, and the latch-less design is simple, yet elegant.

“The XPS 14z delivers what professionals want – raw power paired with a stunning, sophisticated design that signals ‘I’ve arrived’,” said Chris Papa, Country Manager, Consumer and Small Business, Dell Philippines. “The XPS 14z is specifically engineered to help our customers do more in their personal and professional lives – and it advances our industry-leading vision for thin-and-powerful solutions that deliver performance without compromise.”

“When Dell looks at innovation and product development, we start with the customer. For us, it’s about delivering the right feature-set and design to provide the best user experience for our customers,” said Sam Burd, vice president of Dell’s Consumer and Small/Medium Business product group.

Dell XPS laptops come with the Dell Stage user interface, which offers one-click access to favorite content including music, photos and video. SyncUP powered by Nero can keep content and personal information synched with other Stage-enabled Dell PCs and mobile devices.

Editor's Note: A performance laptop, that is how best to describe the XPS 14z. With second-generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, an HD WLED display, a slot-load optical drive and NVIDIA graphics option, heavy stuff!

source: mb.com.ph

Dell and Baidu team up for tablets, mobiles

SHANGHAI - Dell Inc and China's top search engine Baidu Inc plan to jointly develop tablet computers and mobile phones, targeting the Chinese market dominated by Apple Inc and Lenovo.

China is one of the fastest growing markets for tablets and is home to more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers, but analysts were skeptical that the partnership would unseat Apple as the dominant force in the market.

"I suspect this is just Dell, who has a lot of problems on the mobile and tablet front, grasping at straws to get any kind of publicity that it can to make its product more attractive," said Michael Clendenin, managing director of technology consultancy RedTech Advisors.

"Ultimately in China, I still think it is Apple's game, still for the iPad and iPhone."

Dell declined to give a timeline for the launch of the devices, but local media reported on Tuesday, quoting sources, that it may be as early as November.

Baidu launched a new mobile application platform last week and offered a glimpse of its upcoming mobile operating system, which it hopes will serve a growing number of users accessing the Internet from smartphones and tablet computers.

The company said it already had partnerships with Dell and other device makers and declined to comment on the new tie-up. Dell said the partnership with Baidu involved the company's new mobile platform.

Baidu has built on its dominance of China's search market significantly since Google's high-profile exit last year citing hacking and censorship concerns.

Baidu's Nasdaq-listed shares are up nearly 50 percent so far this year, giving it a market value of around $50 billion.

BUSY SPACE

A Dell-Baidu tie-up would be the latest in a series of developments reshaping the mobile devices market.

Last month, Google said it would buy Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion, putting Google into a lower-margin manufacturing business and pitting it against as many as 38 other handset companies that use Google's Android software.

"Dell has got nothing to lose. They don't have a big mobile presence, so by partnering Baidu, they will probably get some momentum for their mobile products," said Sandy Shen, a research director with Gartner.

Dell has chosen China to launch new products before. In June, Dell said it had chosen to launch its new 10-inch Android tablet in China this summer, passing up on a U.S. and European launch, in a sign of the market's growing importance to the company.

Dell's China sales grew 22 percent in the first quarter while its retail presence in China exceeds 10,000 sales points.

In 2009, Dell announced it will enter the smartphone market starting in China before moving into Brazil. -- Reuters

Source: gmanews.tv