Why does Dell sell these?

Stan · 12-28-03, 10:04 PM

I noticed in the USA site of Dell they sell Palm,Sony pda's etc.
Why would they offer other company/competitors products for sale?
Would that make it hard to complete with yourself??

12-29-03, 01:33 AM

They can still make money on them just like any vendor that buys in bulk from the manufacturer and resells. Just like how they sell digital cameras from canon and olympus.

3X10^8 · 12-29-03, 05:54 AM

One reason, and one reason alone: TO MAKE MONEY!!!!

12-29-03, 09:32 AM

1 reason to make people angry couse theyre not getting theyre order :P

Stan · 12-29-03, 01:14 PM

I understand it is for them to make money...Wouldn't it be the same as a GM dealer selling new Fords?

12-29-03, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stan
I understand it is for them to make money...Wouldn't it be the same as a GM dealer selling new Fords?

not exactly a good comparison. it would be more like if a car dealer decided to sell boats or airplanes. they both are used for transportation, but go about it in completely different ways. since most users of PPCs tend to use their handheld for different uses than a Palm user, it is not a complete contradiction for them to sell both. but, with the differences between the two shrinking they may pull the palm based units in the future.

12-29-03, 01:30 PM

Well maybee when they take orders from small businesses and such people were demanding to include a certain palm pda instead. Its not exactly like GM selling a ford car because that would be Dell selling compaq or sony computers or servers :)

deftech · 12-29-03, 05:41 PM

You've got to remember that Dell's main customers are large corporations. And there are many corporations that only use PalmOS devices, for whatever given reason. So in order to keep these corporate customers ordering all of their IT products from Dell, these devices have to be stocked and sold.

Stan · 12-29-03, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jpmarth
not exactly a good comparison. it would be more like if a car dealer decided to sell boats or airplanes. they both are used for transportation, but go about it in completely different ways. since most users of PPCs tend to use their handheld for different uses than a Palm user, it is not a complete contradiction for them to sell both. but, with the differences between the two shrinking they may pull the palm based units in the future.

I am new to the pocket pc world but what would the different uses be for a Dell compared to a Palm?

12-30-03, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stan
I am new to the pocket pc world but what would the different uses be for a Dell compared to a Palm?

that wasn't a good way for me to phrase it.

the uses CAN be the same, but those who would purchase a palm from Dell, mainly big companies, don't need a device with the ability to play music, run pocket quake, or play an encoded movie. all they need is something to hold contact info, appointments, and maybe a spreadsheet or document. palm does have an advantage over PPC in that it offers a larger range of products. compaq is getting to that point, but needs to get the price of their lower end units even lower before they can compete with the basic palm models.

Stan · 12-30-03, 11:30 AM

Gotcha...the learning curve to a computer device seems steep to me for the first little while. I have not purchased a PPC yet as I am still in the "learning before you purchase stage" so that I end up with something I can be happy with for a few years.

Over the past week since I found this site I have learned plenty, thanks to the members and the articles on the site. Maybe that is why I feel kinda partial to the Axim