Compaq prepares Web buying service
Compaq may be about to upset its dealers with a new Web procurement
program doe major business customers. The idea behind the scheme,
reports suggest, is to allow Compaq to tap into the same direct sales
model that Dell and Gateway's sites have enjoyed.
Dell and Gateway, however, only have a few indirect dealers, mostly
in the value-added arena. Compaq has many more in the mainstream dealer
market, so it's running a risk of alienating such resellers.
Phil Starmer, the PC vendor's e-business manager, is quoted in the
latest UK trade papers as saying that the revamped Web service will
not affect dealer relationships currently in place.
"We will do nothing the endanger the relationship we have with our
channel partners," he said, adding that the Web site service is unlikely
to extend beyond more than 30 major corporates.
This will come as a welcome relief for Compaq's dealers, as the vendor
already direct-sells into its very large accounts. If what Starmer
says its true, the the site should not affect dealers - at least in
the short term.
Compaq UK. 20-8332-3000, www.compaq.co.uk
PC sales picking up in UK and Europe
Figures just in from IDC (www.idc.com) will bring good cheer to the
reseller channel in Western Europe, as the research firm says that
the third quarter of this year saw PC sales increase by 13 per cent
in the Europe, Middle East & Africa region.
The figures could have been higher, however, as sluggish business
demand for desktops and servers, coupled with a strong dollar, apparently
held back sales.
In Western Europe, IDC says that PC sales increased 11.7 per cent,
thanks to recovering sales after the Y2K-induced sales slump of earlier
in the year, as well as buoyant sales in the UK's business sector.
Karine Paoli. manager of IDC's EMEA PC group, said that corporate
and medium-sized businesses have clearly marked a pause in their hardware
renewal cycles throughout 2000.
"If we are starting to see desktop and server investments slowly picking
up, we do not expect any significant rebound in business demand and/or
Windows 2000 rollouts before the first half of 2001," she explained.
According to Paoli, the shift in demand toward more notebook purchases
is expected to continue and, despite the current weakness of European
currencies, consumer sales are doing well, driven by healthy demand
for Internet services.
Interestingly, IDC reports that notebook shipments were up more than
40 per cent year-on-year during the third quarter, driven on by strong
business and consumer demand.
Andrew Brown, IDC's research analyst in the PC division, meanwhile,
says that major investments in notebook replacements ahead of desktop
machines, improvements in total cost of ownership issues, and decreasing
prices are continuing to drive notebook sales in the business sector.
Delving into the figures reveals that Compaq retained its leadership
of the EMEA market, as well as in the UK, although slow commercial
desktop and server sales affected the leader's overall performance
at 7.9 per cent year-on-year growth.
Fujitsu-Siemens was ranked number two in EMEA although growth was
negative, as the vendor's results were seriously affected by the weakness
of the German business market.
Dell was hit by its soft performance in the UK, as well as its shipments
in France and Germany, meaning that the direct sales leader recorded
only a 4.1 per cent unit growth year on year.
Microsoft scores with easyEverything rentware deal
Microsoft has announced plans to extend the embrace of its rentware
concept to allow customers of easyEverything, the world's largest
chain of Internet cafes, to access Microsoft Office 2000 across the
Internet.
easyEverything, which already has 12 outlets across Western Europe,
was scheduled to open its first US outlet in New York at the end of
November.
The easyEverything chain of Internet cafes is a spinoff of Easyjet,
the UK and European airline which is currently preparing for an IPO
(flotation) in the UK. Plans are also in hand for the easyEverything
Internet cafe chain to go for an IPO.
Under the deal with easyEverything, Microsoft will allow users to
rent access to the usual Office 2000 applications, such as Word, Excel
and Powerpoint, on a `pay per use' basis for as little as one pound
or its local equivalent.
This is the first time that Microsoft have allowed their office software
to be `rented' by consumers instead of them having to buy a perpetual
licence in a shrink wrapped box.
Plans call for Office 2000, Works Suite 2001 and Encarta 2001 to initially
be available through the easyEverything Internet cafe when it opens
in New York Times Square on November 28.
With 800 terminals open 24 hours a day, easyEverything says that will
be the world's largest Internet cafe. Plans call for future US cafes,
as well as the chain's European cafes, to be equipped with Microsoft
rentware in due course.
easyEverything 20-7482-9514, www.easyeverything.com
NETnet offers IT dealers new telecoms deal
NetNet, the new name for WorldXchange, the UK's discount telephony
carrier, has relaunched its dealer campaign with the appointment of
Jeanette Leigh-Betts as national dealer sales manager.
Leigh-Betts, who was previously dealer manager for the carrier's London
and South Eastern region, is setting up a nine-strong team dedicated
to growing and developing the company's UK network of dealers.
Chris Riggs, NETnet's sales and marketing director, said that dealer
sales are now a large source of revenue for the company.
"We recognise that to succeed we need to offer something unique which
gives us competitive advantage. That means investing in experienced
people like Leigh-Betts and providing the right administrative support,
funding, training programmes and recruitment assistance," he explained.
NetNet says that it has invested more than #130 million in its UK
and Western European network, with its own digital switches in 23
major cities across the continent. The plan now is to sign up dealers
to sell its telecoms services across the UK.
NetNet 20-8400-4400, www.netnet.co.uk