• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Dell Says Revolution of Home Electronics Is at Hand if Kinks Can Be Ironed Out

Posted on: Monday, 23 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

Jun. 24-- ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Consumers are closer than ever to a revolution in home electronics with the personal computer at the center -- if the kinks can be worked out, Michael Dell said Monday.

Technology companies have to agree on common standards so that their products can work together, creating electronic devices that are less expensive and more functional, Mr. Dell said. Government, the entertainment industry and consumers also must help, he said.

In a meeting with news media at Dell Computer Corp.'s headquarters, executives offered an outline of how homes will look in the next few years. PCs will manage their users' video libraries, music libraries and home appliances, they said.

None of those ideas are new, but they haven't become as prevalent as many in the technology industry had hoped they would. That's because companies haven't been able to agree on all the technological issues to make them work. For instance, what radio frequency -- and what computer language -- should a toaster use to talk to a PC?

"Computers weren't the first thing to use standards. Abraham Lincoln had to tell the railroads to work together" so trains could pass from rail to rail, Mr. Dell said. When technology companies agree on common ideas, "the customer benefits because products become more affordable and work more efficiently."

And Dell benefits because it has been able to make profits while slashing prices in many categories. With a supply chain and manufacturing light years ahead of its competitors in the late '90s, Dell drove down PC prices -- and they continue to fall.

But Dell couldn't have done that without a common operating system -- Microsoft Windows -- and other technologies that made computers work with other devices, no matter what the brand. The same thing must happen with other devices to make technologists' dreams for the home come true, Mr. Dell said.

Dell doesn't invent very many new technologies for consumers, choosing instead to wait until standards are developed and sales rise to a heavy volume before jumping into the market.

That means it relies on the work of other technology companies, such as International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., who often adopt new technologies first and go through the growing pains of making them work.

But Dell does cooperate with other technology makers to ensure its products will work with their new concepts, Mr. Dell said.

For instance, Dell worked with Microsoft Corp. as the software giant developed its operating system for Windows Media Center PCs, which act as much like jukeboxes and televisions as they do like computers. But Dell has no plans to make its own Media Center PC because it doesn't believe the market is big enough yet.

The computer industry needs help from Hollywood and record labels to build music, television and movies into mass markets on the PC, Mr. Dell said. The content providers have failed to give consumers clear instructions for how they could use content they've purchased, he said.

"I don't know what fair use is because you don't tell me on the cover of your product," Mr. Dell said. Music labels and moviemakers "should say on the cover of the product what we're entitled to do or not do with the product. I think that would create some competition among providers of content."

Government, meanwhile, must find a balance between protecting consumer privacy and providing security, which often requires tracking information on people who have been convicted of nothing, Mr. Dell said.

"If people can operate in an anonymous fashion, there are too many opportunities for bad things to occur," he said. "If everything's completely private, there's no way to ensure absolute security."

And consumers have the ultimate role in getting new technologies to work in their homes. If things don't work together easily, they won't buy the products, Mr. Dell said.

"We want to make it easy for customers to take advantage of all these new technologies in the digital home," he said. "The vast majority of electronics in the home can be connected, and we're going to help make that happen."

-----

To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com.

(c) 2003, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

DELL, MSFT, HPQ, IBM,

More News in this Category