Dell Inc., the world’s largest maker of personal computers, announced Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Alienware, a maker of gaming systems. The move will help Dell to address the lucrative market of gaming computers better, which may have impact on Dell’s profit margins.
Dell said Alienware will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary following completion of the transaction and will maintain its own product development, product marketing, sales, technical support and other operations as well as brand. The management and founders of Alienware will continue to operate the company as a standalone unit of Dell.
“Alienware’s products are an excellent complement to Dell’s own line of high-performance computers designed for gaming, enthusiast and media content customers. In addition to offering high-quality, high-performance products, Alienware has tremendous brand appeal with consumers and creative business professionals,” said Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc.
Even though Dell has been offering its gaming personal computers (PCs) for quite a while now, given that they all were based on processors from Intel Corp., which have not won gaming benchmarks for years now, the demand towards such PCs could not be as high as expected. Since Alienware offers both AMD- and Intel-based systems, it may have much higher success in providing gamers what they need. Additionally, Alienware will be able to get computer components from Dell now, which means better costs.
“Alienware has a legacy of success designing the highest-performance PCs using bleeding -edge technologies and innovative industrial design. We believe that Alienware will realize significant advantages from Dell’s world-class supply chain and operational efficiencies. They will allow us to continue to satisfy our core customers with the most innovative and highest-performing PCs, and ultimately extend the reach and appeal of the Alienware brand,” said Nelson Gonzalez, chief executive of Alienware.
Terms of the planned purchase will not be disclosed.
Comments currently: 10
Discussion started: 03/23/06 07:20:05 AM
Latest comment: 03/27/06 12:26:59 PM
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[1-6]
1.
*screams in his Darth Vader voice*
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
[Posted by: Mallissin | Date: 03/23/06 07:20:05 AM]
2.
Now you can have Dildoware from Dull !
[Posted by: Randy | Date: 03/23/06 10:04:06 AM]
3.
This is just not right. I have never thought that a gay ass company like DELL would buy frigging ALIENWARE for crying out loud.
[Posted by: Theodor | Date: 03/24/06 01:23:28 AM]
4.
life is over
[Posted by: ajtyeh | Date: 03/24/06 03:01:58 AM]
5.
I wonder what there is about this site that attracts the drama queens.
If this causes severe inner pain, you need to get a life. It's probably not going to change much anyway, except it will give Dell a way to sell AMD based machines without impacting their logistics and increasing their support costs. I mentioned a while back how selling AMD would be very expensive for Dell; the component costs aren't the issue, the support, development, educational, etc... costs are. This makes it simple, Dell doesn't support AMD stuff, doesn't have to reeducate their sales staff, doesn't have to worry about another line in their manufacturing, and they are not shut out of selling AMD machines. It's really the best of both worlds for them to run this as an independent company. They will no doubt improve efficiency and use their skills to run the company better and attempt to grow it and it could be potential lucrative for them.
I wouldn't have predicted it, but now that it happened it makes a lot of sense. I would be very surprised if Dell dropped AMD processors from this company's products, as is being speculated on the web a lot, because that would make the purchase pretty much pointless. Dell doesn't buy market share, and they certainly don't need technology from this insignificant company. It has to be all about selling AMD, without all the disadvantages of including them in the actual Dell line.
[Posted by: TA152H | Date: 03/24/06 07:20:04 AM]
+ expand thread (4 answers)
- collapse thread
I was joking, but seeing your response makes me wish I had bought an Alienware PC to feel outraged.
[Posted by: Mallissin | Date: 03/24/06 10:26:34 AM]
I still don't get it, why would you feel outraged even if you bought an Alienware machine? Why would you perceive this as a negative event? You know that with Dell owning the company, it's not going out of business,and will probably benefit in many ways from it, not the least of which is cost.
Why would this bother anyone? What am I missing? I ask that because if I bought an Alienware machine and Dell bought the company, I'd be pretty happy about it. I don't see why anyone would feel this is disadvantageous to them, from the perspective of an alienware customer. From the perspective of Intel, they may find it not so pleasing though.
[Posted by: TA152H | Date: 03/24/06 04:07:57 PM]
It's not "outraging". However, it was a shock. I never thought it will happen, and I certainly didn't think that DELL would buy the almighty ALIENWARE. It's like saying Microsoft bought Google. How would you "feel" about it?
[Posted by: Theodor | Date: 03/26/06 10:57:35 AM]
Theodore,
I'll grant you, I didn't see this coming. But, for something to shock me it would have to be more significant.
Comparing Alienware to Google illustrates my point. Google is much more significant a company than Alienware, and Microsoft much more significant a company than Dell. Dell could fall off the face of the Earth and it really would not matter much at all. They do nothing significant; they have no technology, no personality, no relevance outside of being a very efficient distributor of Intel technology. Maybe they will cost a little less than HP, but not enough to really matter.
Microsoft is much more important. If no one could buy Windows anymore, or Office, or any other product they make, there would be a huge difference. It's the difference between a developer and a distributor. Granted, Microsoft software is awful to a shocking degree, it is still a significant technology company. Same with Intel, AMD, ATI, and Nvidia. IBM as well, but less in the mainstream PC market.
Google is certainly no big deal either, it's just a search engine. There are plenty of those, but I think its greater significance lies in the future, if they can ever oppose Microsoft. People whine about Intel being a monopoly, but anyone with an IQ over 40 should be able to see they are not, particularly with AMD making processors with the same instruction set. Microsoft, on the other hand, is a real monopoly and a vile and vicious one. Their products totally suck and always have, but there is no one who can legally make a Windows compatible OS. Instead, they keep making versions of Unix, which put the 'S' in "Sucks" and has never been, nor will ever be a popular operating system. You'd think with Unix failure after Unix failure, that it's not the OS to compete against something more modern like Windows, but they keep rehashing that smelly pig and naturally Windows makes it look like the 40 year old OS it is.
Google looks like it is gaining power, and with some luck they may be in a position to challenge Microsoft, and hopefully not with another Unix failure. So, yes, I would be pretty upset because it would eliminate a possible competitor to a company I think is very bad for the PC industry. Plus, I think most people would agree Microsoft is a monopoly, whereas no one thinks Dell is. I don't think it is a legitimate comparison.
Besides, who said Alienware was so mighty anyway? It's just an insignificant private company that has quickly become relevant because now Dell will use it as a tool to sell AMD processors. It could be an important positive for AMD.
[Posted by: TA152H | Date: 03/26/06 03:22:11 PM]
6.
Dell and
Intel are really getting desperate!!!
[Posted by: http://67.49.215.31/inteldeath.htm | Date: 03/27/06 12:26:59 PM]
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