Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Dell plans to continue expanding its stable of consumer electronics products and services throughout the rest of the year, looking to the gear to help it generate new customers and ultimately to sell more PCs.

The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker is introducing products and services ranging from a beefed-up Inspiron 9200 notebook with a 17-inch screen to new all-in-one printer models and a suite of in-home services designed to help consumers sort out home networks and living room electronics.

"We recently measured a few of our newer categories, such as music players and TVs. For those products, 52 percent are going to new customers," Mike George, general manager of Dell's consumer business, said in an interview with CNET News.com. "It would appear that those customers have a disproportionably high likelihood of then coming back to us and buying a PC. It's given us more confidence to be bolder in how we talk (in advertising) about our electronics."

Smart phones, which combine the attributes of a cellular phone and a PDA like Dell's Axim, represent a potential opportunity for Dell, executives say.

Dell doesn't plan to offer devices such as DVD players, either. There's little opportunity for profit in the high-volume, low-price electronics space, George said ... Dell recently announced plans to add two new 42-inch plasma-screen TV models to its television lineup and is likely to add a few more TV models over time, executives said.