[photopress:IT_DellChina.img_assist_custom.jpg,full,alignright]PC manufacturer Dell announced this month that it will add several new laptops designed specifically for China and India. The company also intends to expand its distribution in China this year.
In 2007, Dell computers were sold in 45 cities in China. By the end of 2008, stores in some 1,200 cities will carry Dell products. That’s in addition to the company’s online sales of custom computers which, as a percentage of sales, is much lower in China than elsewhere.
Michael Dell, the company’s CEO, said the struggling economy in the U.S. won’t have too much impact on sales of computers. But he expects the most growth in Asian markets, and Dell is anticipating a 27% increase in its China sales in 2008, to $23 billion.
In a press conference, Michael Dell mentioned that the company will introduce products ‘aimed exactly at Chinese customer needs,’ though he wouldn’t specify what that meant.
However, in 2007 Dell introduced the EC280, a beginner PC that costs about $335. The EC280 has up to 515 megabytes of memory and Windows XP Home Edition. It was intended to be a first computer for the millions of Chinese without Internet access.
This is not a marketing policy that has worked anywhere else in the world and it is difficult to see that it will change anything very much in China.
Sub-standard computers — no matter how you wrap them up — have little appeal. If they will not handle high speed graphics they simply will not sell.
Dell also announced the purchase of $70 billion worth of hardware from Chinese companies between 2007 and 2009. It will also invest $242,000 to connect schools in rural China to the Internet.
Meanwhile, back in the United States, it has plans to save as much as $3 billion over the next three years as it cuts costs and lays off 8,800 workers. The company also plans to close its desktop manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.
Dell has already cut 3,200 jobs in the United States since it announced the 8,800 layoff plan last year, affecting about 10% of its workforce.
Source: InventorsSpot