Dell Back At The Top At Dell
from the return-of-the-founder dept
After the close of the stock market today, computer maker Dell announced that it was giving the boot to CEO Kevin Rollins and replacing him with founder and current chairman Michael Dell. The move really comes as no surprise to anyone who's been following the company in recent years, as it's obviously been heading in the wrong direction. During Rollins' time at the top, the company let its reputation for quality deteriorate, a problem that was exacerbated by poor customer service. This translated into lost sales at the company, allowing HP to claim the lead as the world's biggest computer maker, something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. The company also suffered because it failed to respond to changes in its industry. As laptop sales started to eclipse desktop sales, the computer started moving away from the commoditized boxes that Dell was so adept at selling. This is something that its rival HP seemed to understand a little better, as it focused more on the fashion element. Furthermore, because consumers pay more attention to the look and feel of laptops than they do desktops, the company's once-vaunted direct sales strategy started to be a problem, since it doesn't offer a chance to see the product before buying it. As for the company's future, it's not clear what Michael Dell is going to do to turn the ship around, but it does seem pretty clear that something needed to change.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Back in the day.....
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What about Gateway?
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Probably something like:
- build products that people want to buy. Extend the kiosk initiative to more malls across america.
- improve customer service by employing more of the qualified tech. And less of the "another country, you know which one I mean" script reader that do not understand you and have absolutely no clue what a computer looks like.
- Even more commercials on TV and ads in the paper.
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I stopped following dell a while ago, i had no idea the founder had stepped down. Its ironic though that when they came out i was a huge supporter, then over the last 5 years i cringe when someone mentions dell. course, i'm not a big fan of any of the big players...i generally put my own rigs together
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Gee
I just hope its not too late for Dell to turn it around. Once you ruin the public's trust, its exceedingly difficult to get it back. I know people who *still* won't buy Gateway because of the service they got back in '96. Most people don't realize that the company has changed, and this could happen to Dell.... not everybody keeps up with the tech news. ;)
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Dell deals himself in
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Ugly Laptops but Specs & Prices Still On Top
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dumping founders
Seems like a lot of that going around...
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