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Dell and Plasma

Dell entered the plasma television market Wednesday market, trying to break into a fiercely competitive market with a price that one analyst called disruptive.

Although Dell executives previously indicated their intention of entering the flat-panel television business, the company disclosed their first models and pricing plans at a press conference Wednesday morning at the DigitalLife show here in New York. Dell also unveiled an LCD TV, a pair of photo printers, and the "Dell DJ", a small hard-drive-based MP3 player that resembles the Apple iPod Mini.

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For Dell, however, the key might be the $3,499 price the company intends to charge for its new 42-inch plasma display, the W4200HD.

"It's a great price, it's a disruptive price," said Stephen Baker, director of industry analysis for retail analyst firm NPD Techworld, in an interview following the Dell launch. "As you know, Gateway did this when they entered the market, and Dell's evidently trying to do this on a product selling below $5,000", the most popular price range for these products, he said.

As the self-proclaimed leader in the flat-panel monitor business, Dell commands the volume pricing leverage that is allowing the company to offer these prices, said Mike George, general manager for the consumer business for Dell. "The price points are unbelievable; so is the quality," he said. "I believe that if you take any of our products and stack them against any other product, we'll come out ahead."

For now, the key will be how Dell lets consumers know that it is a television vendor. To do this, Dell is adding more and more kiosks, which highlight the "Dell experience" in malls and kiosks. Dell has put in place 80 of the new kiosks, with four � in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago � being converted over to highlight the new "digital home" products, George said.

Although the digital-television marketplace is crowded, NPD's Baker said the time is ripe to enter. HDTV has previously been the market for a few high-end suppliers. In some sense, Baker said, Dell's presence is like a high-end Honda Accord: it offers all the benefits of a luxury Jaguar or Mercedes without the high price tag. "It's brand value without the brand costs," Baker said.

Dell's new plasma displays will be available in November. However, for "reasons that I don't want to get into, according to George, the displays will only be shipped to customers in the continental U.S., not Hawaii or Alaska. Plans to offer the displays and to customers outside the country are in the works, George said.

Dell will also offer approximately six installation offers, including a $169 basic set-up option as well as higher-priced, more full-featured plans.

Dell's new products include:

The 42-inch W4200HD. The television supports 1024x768 resolution and includes dual integrated analog tuners and a dual analog/digital tuner.

The 42-inch W4200ED is a standard-definition plasma display capable of 852 x 480 resolution. Priced at $2,299, the display also includes dual tuners and can serve as a PC monitor. Both the W4200ED and the W4200HD ship with detachable 20-watt speakers.

The W1900 19-inch LCD TV, priced at $899. The display provides 1280 x 768 resolutions (a 15:9 aspect ratio) and a full suite of PC and LCD connectors.

The Dell Photo Printer 540. The small $189 printer (3.2-inches by 7.8 inches by 5.3 inches) is designed to be portable and contains a 2.5-inch LCD, USB port, 5-in-1 card reader and PictBridge port.

The Dell Photo All-In-One 942 printer, priced at $149. Initially, the printer will be limited to sales in the United States. It can print, copy, fax, and print 19 pages a minute in black and white and 14 ppm in color. The available print resolution was not available.

Dell Breaks Into Plasma TV Market

Posted by Craig at October 15, 2004 02:04 PM