JULY 2008 W5 ALERT
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Dell Testing New Personal Music Player for A Second Go At It
<Reuters><Wall Street Journal><July 30, 2008>Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Dell Inc. has been testing a digital personal music player for the last few months and may be close to marketing it to consumers…perhaps as early as this fall. This development marks a return to a business that Dell had once abandoned when they discontinued production of the Dell DJ Ditty in 2006.
Forging into the personal music player business is clearly not for the faint of heart as Apple currently owns 71% of the market. Major brands such as Microsoft and Sony have failed to make the slightest dent in Apple’s stranglehold. And, Dell tried and failed once before.
This time, Dell executives say it will be different. First, Dell will tie device, software, and online store together. With the original DJ (Digital Jukebox) from Dell, customers purchased music from an unrelated third party.
To give their software interface a leg up, Dell acquired Zing last year. Zing is a software company started by an ex-Apple software engineer. According to Apple sources, Zing can retrieve and organize online music, movies, and photos and will come pre-installed on Dell computers.
Why would Dell try again in such a competitive market? It is all part of a broader strategy to move the company into the broader consumer market. Again, Dell has tried this before…remember Dell TV’s? Or how about their Axim hand-held mobile device.
This time, Dell execs say, will be different. Michael Tatelman, Dell vice president of consumer sales, says, “This isn’t about a new MP3 player.” This time, Dell says, its about the seamless integration of devices, software, and services.
The unit will connect via Wi-Fi and is expected to sell for under $100. The approach is different, the software is different, the online music resources are different…only time will tell if Dell’s results will be different. And they need it to be.