Sunday, September 10, 2006

Dell In Fortune Magazine

There is an article in the latest issue of Fortune about Dell's woes. According to the article, the problems stem from Dell betting too heavily on cost reductions, not embracing AMD chips, design, and lastly.... ignoring the customer.

For me, Dell's downfall can be traced to its outsourcing of its previously excellent service overseas. Nobody wants to call for service on a complex issue and reach someone you can barely understand explain concepts that you can barely understand. My own experience in ordering a computer a few years ago did little to inspire confidence as a sales person in India was overly confident about Dell's ability to get the computer to me in the time frame I needed. He didn't understand my concerns about the shipping methods used and an upcoming holiday that may have resulted in other delays. Almost everything he told me was untrue.

Unfortunately, the article contains a glaring error. It indicates "(l)ast year the company launched a high-end sub-brand called XPS." I own an XPS from a few years back and a simple Google search shows the XPS line goes back several years."