Thursday, February 23, 2006

Don't Cry, Mr. Dell

Chinese PC manufacturer announces line of low-price US machines.

I don't know anything about this company or its PC line; I've never even heard of 'em, although they're the third-largest manufacturer in the world, apparently. (Me, out of the loop? Nah.)

Nonetheless, I boldly predict: failure.

Why? Simple - support.

PCs don't work. It's just that straightforward. There's so many options, so many configurations, so many different things that can break or fail to cooperate or just not work right in the first place. Support is critical even for the home market - to say nothing of the small-business, no-IT-department consumers that this Chinese company is specifically targeting. No support, no sale.

The machines start in the $350 range. How do you fit a decent machine and enough margin to cover a reasonable support operation in that price? Easy. You don't. So support is going to suck.

And word will get out. Word always gets out. And sales will head south, and this company will draw back a bloody stump.

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