Hacker News Reader

I thought Dell had become big in the late 90's by mastering the supply chain and cutting costs in manufacturing. When everyone else did that too, they seemed to have lost their competitive advantage. Maybe Michael Dell has a plan for them in this "post pc" world. I don't have faith that they will, but I could be wrong.

View on HN

I believe Dell's suppliers also used the demonstrated advantages of Dell's logistics to enter the market as competitors.

Also in the pre-2000s run up, Dell's pricing was premium, and with those margins Dell provided better than average in-house, state-side customer support, most (all?) of which was eventually dismantled as PC prices dropped.

Maybe when they aren't public, Dell will be able to invest heavily in R&D & customer support without worrying about earnings per share for the next quarter.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com