PC prices will stay stable for the short term and innovation of the
PC hasn't stopped, said Paul Bell, EMEA president of Dell Computer,
on 18 September.
Bell was responding to Michael Capellas, chairman and chief
executive officer of Compaq, who had told the IDC European IT Forum
the previous day that "brutal pricing" would last and "PC
innovation would stagnate".
"We expect great bargains for a while. It is a great time to buy,"
said Bell. "Pricing feels less brutal to us because it still is a
profitable business. You will continue to see massive amounts of
innovation, in size if nothing else: smaller and more portable. The
PC is changing more rapidly now than in the previous ten
years."
Capellas had suggested Compaq was moving away from PCs, saying his
company would not strive for leadership "in the past market", but
instead focused on tomorrow's next-generation devices.
Bell responded that PCs were not yet history. "We don't have to
turn around and evacuate the client side - the desktops and the
notebooks - because they are very healthy businesses for us," he
said.
"The PC is a very solid business; there is strong demand for
desktops. It is important for our customers that we're not
badmouthing PCs. Our customers want to use them and want to buy
them. We're investing in that area," he added.
Carly Fiorina, the Hewlett-Packard chairman and chief executive
officer, took a swipe at Dell on 17 September. She claimed that
Dell, with its focus on volume and velocity, would not survive in
the long term as it lacks resources for research and development,
sales and marketing.
Bell responded: "We're continuing to gain market share and we're
earning most of the profits in the industry. Whenever someone says
that we can't keep growing, it is hard to understand the logic of
that."
Dell has seen its growth rate drop from 60% in recent years to an
expected 20% this year, according to Bell.
"The market is growing more slowly, but it is still a very big
market. We are hopeful that Europe can be one of the factors of
leading us forward and creating new growth," he said.
Further
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Compaq chief sees bumpy ride ahead