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Dell Has Lost the Channel War

by , 1:55 PM EDT, September 21st, 2007

The channel wars are over and Dell has lost according to Steve Brazier, CEO of Canalys, who spoke in Madrid on Friday.

That's the interpretation by Channel Register on Friday since Dell wasn't actually mentioned by name in the talk.

Mr. Brazier, who kicked off Acer's press jamboree, said that "any vendors contemplating a jump from a direct-only model into the channel could not expect a soft landing." He pointed out that building up a channel strategy takes many years and close work with channel partners. The logistics required to support customers in the retail channel are completely alien to the direct sale model, especially with regard to inventory.

"The channel has beaten the direct model," Mr. Brazier declared. He explained how an 20-30 day inventory is required to smooth out the flow in a tightening PC market. Dell's just-in-time model was unfavorably compared to Henry Ford's model T production line and has "wrong-footed" them.

Acer recently agreed to buy Gateway and is one of Dell's biggest competitors. Dell has been having trouble lately with a partial transition to a channel model, perhaps inspired by Apple's success with their retail stores.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Guest
Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:41 pm Subject: spell/grammar check

"OFF" dammit. "...who kicked of (sic) Acer's press jamboree...."


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Close Name:Bosco Posts: 1002 Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:52 pm Subject: A dissenting opinion

Meanwhile, at HP's press event, Thomas Jockstrap (CEO of SmartAnal) claims that Acer is outdated.


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Close Name:nealg Posts: 123 Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:46 am Subject: It is funny...

that analysts have to claim winners and losers but I guess that is their job. In my opinion, Dell is a fierce competitor and with Rollins out and Dell back in, I wouldn't count them out of anything.

Neal


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Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2088 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:17 pm Subject: Email rather than post about errors

Quote
Guest wrote:
"OFF" dammit. "...who kicked of (sic) Acer's press jamboree...."


A suggestion: click on the author's name to send an email, rather than post a message that will no longer apply when the error is corrected. That will also probably result in the error being corrected more quickly.


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