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Dell Quietly Leaves MP3 Market
An AD-Esque Sitcom writes "Dell has quietly retired from the portable player market. The Dell DJ Ditty — whose website is nothing more than an error now — was absent from Dell's catalogue, and the company was not offering any follow-up products, instead preferring to stick with PCs, printers, and not killing people in fiery laptop-related explosions. Dell will still be a third-party reseller of other MP3 players like the Creative Zen, but has left the Windows-based player market to the four big players — SanDisk, Samsung, Sony, and Creative."
Back in the day there was a phrase going around, which seemed to have great merit: Stick to your core competency. While not always good advice, for there were a few companies who diversified and prospered, it was often easy to find examples of where companies had utterly done themselves in by getting into product lines and services where they were out of their depth or the product/service really wasn't ever going to produce the return hoped for (during hard times these units are often the first closed because the accountants can readliy point them out as hemorraging cash.) Good for Dell, get out and put your mind on sorting out your battery woes and making better PC's (the past years models are a far cry from the quality of early Dell units.)
Microsoft, still willing to bet billions you have an iPod killer and wish to enter the digital music player market? of course, you love the challenge and it encourages those mean old euro dogs to request Windows with the media junk bundled the EU is currently spanking you for.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Atleast they didnt leave explosively. You gotta give them credit for that much.
I guess Dell couldn't make use of all that Snakes on a Plane tie-in publicity, huh?
What, you didn't notice it? Small wonder, considering the character listening to the Dell MP3 player was known as iPod Girl until the last minute.
Of course we need these sorts of comments in the summaries! You vacuous, ill-educated buffoon! ...and when you say "flamebait", are you reffering to the comment or the laptop battery?
My Computer Music Tutorial Videos
I'd never even HEARD of the "DJ Ditty" until this morning's radio news mentioned that Dell had dropped it.
With PR like that - versus Apple's dancing silhouettes - it's no surprise it never sold.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
"...left the Windows-based player market to the four big players -- SanDisk, Samsung, Sony, and Creative."
What happened to Apple? My iPod certainly works with Windows.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." -Plato
Companies that don't ever diversify don't always do well either. Dell's foray into the MP3 market turned out to be ill conceived, but as the great Homer put it "No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you." Dell were on the bottom and gave up (probably a wise decision) but the Apple iPod is just one of an eventual million other better products. I see no reason why any company with enough money and ingenuity can't beat the iPod into second place, it's just a matter of time.
dude! you're exiting the market!
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