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Alienware Founders Open Dadeland Mall Kiosk

Posted on: Monday, 12 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Ani Martinez, The Miami Herald

Dec. 10--Back in high school, Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila whiled away the hours taking apart and rebuilding computers so they could play the high-tech video games they loved. They got so good at it, they figured they'd start making their own.

Nine years after Alienware began in Gonzalez's garage, the company has become one of the hot sources for the cool, powerful computers hard-core videogamers demand. Its muscle machines also have lured customers the likes of George Lucas, the Army, General Motors and Disney.

Now Alienware's founders wonder how their computers will play with regular folk.

The company's first retail outlet opens today, a kiosk at Dadeland Mall where window shoppers will be able to check out computers ranging from $500 to $5,000.

Alienware primarily sells through the Internet. In 2002, it cut a deal with Best Buy to offer its products but pulled out after a year. The founders decided they wanted to handle their own retail sales.

"The idea to open a kiosk was pretty simple because we're ready," Gonzalez said. "A lot of customers tell us our website doesn't do our machine justice."

Dadeland was chosen, he said, because it's close to home and customer reaction is easy to monitor.

If the kiosk is successful, the company plans to open a full-fledged store.

"If we break even on the kiosk experiment, we will consider this a success," Gonzalez said. "Now that we are not on a shoestring budget we can take a risk like this."

Aguila and Gonzalez believe the kind of high-performance computers that are their specialty are no longer just the province of the sophisticated gamer.

"If people are looking for performance, Alienware will provide it in droves," said Bill Howard, the on-technology columnist for P.C. Magazine. Howard said he thought Alienware's products would sell well in Miami, where people like to buy the hottest gadgets.

Alienware's mainstream move comes as some analysts project a decline in PC gaming revenues.

The gaming industry, set to hit a peak of $58.7 billion in 2007, is dominated by sales of consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's Playstation 2, says a recent market report by Informa.

As those consoles get increasingly sophisticated, "PC gaming will continue to decline," the report said, "with revenues falling to half the 2001 total by 2010."

Aguila and Gonzalez disagree.

"They have been talking about the end of PC gaming for years," Aguila said. "Every generation naturally fosters more gamers. Those kids growing up with PC games are going to make the decisions of our future."

One who also sees a future in PC gaming is Michael Dell, chairman of PC powerhouse Dell Computer. "When we talk to the game developers, they say the PC platform is alive and well," Dell told gaming website Gamespot.com.

Aguila points out that Alienware already does 50 percent of its sales with non-gaming customers, like governments and big corporations.

Since the days in the garage, the company has grown rapidly. Sales hit $172 million for the year ended in September, up from $112 million in the previous fiscal year. The company recently moved its headquarters from a West Kendall warehouse to a larger space next to the Kendall-Tamiami airport.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Miami Herald

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Source: The Miami Herald

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