Michael Dell Talks Streak, PCs, Chrome OS at Conference

AUSTIN, Texas – Although his company made its reputation and profits on shipping millions of PCs worldwide for 25 years, Michael Dell is now more focused on how profitable his company’s PCs are rather than the sheer number of clients that move out the door.

In an interview with reporters following the company’s annual meeting with financial analysts, Michael Dell held forth on a wide range of topics, including the company’s approach to its core PC business, how the new Streak tablet is being received and reports that his company is working to bring Google’s Chrome OS to Dell PCs.

During the July 24 meeting with analysts, Michael Dell laid out a vision for the company that includes more of an emphasis on commercial clients and IT services in the next year. Dell is also focused on making its PC business much more profitable.

That is why Dell is focusing on commercial clients, where the company can add to its profits by selling its services along with the hardware. The company is also working on improving its consumer offerings and Dell is looking to double the margins on its consumer PC sales during the next year.

To this end, Michael Dell said the company is more focused on PC profits and revenues then on the actual number of units shipped worldwide. Right now, Dell finds itself in third place in the PC market, with Hewlett-Packard as the top PC maker and Acer in second place.

“We are focusing on the profits of the client,” said Dell. “Then, we are focusing on the revenue and then units. One category of success in the industry is how many units are shipped. For Dell, we are much more focused on profits and revenue share.”

Dell also talked about the company’s new mobile Internet device called the Streak, which the company just introduced in the United Kingdom on O2’s wireless network. The 5-inch device, which runs a customized version of Google’s Android OS, is coming to the United States in July for a starting price of about $500.

While Dell said the initial response to the Streak has been positive, the company is also exploring ways to build new businesses around the explosion of different mobile devices and smartphones. Specifically, Dell wants to provide the backend infrastructure to support the content that is being uploaded to these devices.

“There has to be servers and storage to support all the data that is being pulled by users and this is an exciting opportunity for us,” said Dell.

Michael Dell was also asked about a Reuters report stating that Dell is working with Google to bring its Chrome OS to PCs. While not confirming the specifics of the new report, Michael Dell said he has seen Chrome OS and that there is not a “whole lot more to say at this stage. It works just great and runs well on many Dell products.”

Finally, Michael Dell was asked about a comment he made earlier this month that he considered taking his company private at one point. “There are no plans to go private,” he said.