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Dell outlines strategy
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June 22, 1999: 12:35 p.m. ET
Expands free Internet service in Europe, decries PC pessimism
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Dell Computer Corp., the world's second-largest computer manufacturer, Tuesday outlined a widened European Internet strategy and challenged notions of a weakening personal computer market.
As part of its increased commitment to Europe, Dell unveiled a free Internet service in Germany, to be known as Dellnet.de, the company said Tuesday.
Customers can currently download the DellNet software at Dell's German Web site, and later this week will be able to go to the official www.dellnet.de page.
While Dell touts the service as free, it's a relative term. Users are not charged a subscription fee, but must pay phone charges while they are online.
Unlike in the United States, where users pay a monthly fee but can get unlimited access for the price of one phone call, Europeans are usually charged for phone service by the minute.
Therefore, companies offering free Internet access have quickly become popular. Freeserve, launched last September, became Britain's top ISP within months of its introduction and other have quickly followed suit.
Dell began offering free Internet service in Britain in May, and during the next few weeks plans to launch similar services in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Stateside, Dell Chairman and Founder Michael Dell, appearing at the PC Expo technology trade show in New York, said Tuesday that his company earned 55 percent of the personal computer industry's total profit in the first quarter and it expects that to increase in the second quarter.
Dell based that viewpoint on earlier warnings from rival Compaq, which last week said it would post a loss during the second quarter and would restructure its operations.
Dell also decried the view that the future was looking tighter for his company. While admitting that the unprecedented growth seen during the last couple of years would be hard to match, Dell said the company had areas -- including the sub-$1,000 sector - in which it could grow faster than the overall market.
"People have been predicting the demise of the PC for years and have been wrong for years," said Dell.
Dell stock was unchanged at 38-15/16 in Tuesday midday trading.
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Dell
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