Dell just announced just a third-quarter shortfall in earnings of at least $200 m from analyst projections according to ZDNet. The company blamed it on sluggish consumer sales and a faulty component in its OptiPlex desktop PC," ZD's said. Earnings per share came in at 25 cents vs. previous estimates of 39 to 41 cents. They will be laying off a small number of employees.
"When companies make explanations for a shortfall in earnings, they take the two or three most obvious things to blame and focus on them so they can simplify the message. But quite frankly, it is usually more complex than that," said independent PC analyst Roger Kay.
Kay is right. Perhaps just one of the many word-of-mouth factors has been the abundance of blog-centered word-of-mouth about Dell's incredibly poor customer service record, amplified by Michael Dell's statements a while back that if Dell can't upgrade low-end consumers, then he really doesn't want them anyway.
I currently use a Dell. He won't miss me, obviously, when my next notebook computer becomes a ThinkPad.
