timing

Funny that I was reading earlier this week how Apple is beating up Dell in the music space and how Dell needed to release a smaller version to compete with the mini...

Dell Unveils Plasma TVs
And Mini Music Players,
In Push Beyond PCs
By GARY MCWILLIAMS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 14, 2004; Page D6
Personal computer king Dell Inc., continuing its push into consumer electronics, unveiled Thursday its first plasma-screen televisions, a tiny version of its digital-music player and a photoprinter with built-in display for previewing images.

Dell has parlayed its position as the world's largest personal-computer brand into a new stake in consumer electronics. Market watcher Retail Forward Inc. recently ranked the company as the fourth-largest U.S. seller of consumer electronics, behind Best Buy Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Circuit City Stores Inc. Unlike its rivals, Dell doesn't operate stores. Instead, it peddles its flat-screen TVs, digital-music players and cameras over the phone, mail-order catalogs and Web sites.

John Hamlin, senior vice president of Dell's U.S. consumer business, said the consumer-product launch is an outgrowth of its home-PC customers' interest in video and music.

Its first plasma TVs are a pair of 42-inch diagonal monitors with dual analog tuners, connectors that allow them to be used as PC displays and detachable speakers. Dell entered the TV market a year ago with its release of a liquid-crystal display television. It now sells four LCD TVs, ranging from 17-inch diagonal to 30-inch diagonal sets.

"We feel plasma now is at a quality standpoint that we can bring it out," said Mr. Hamlin. The high-definition version of the new pair, the Dell W4200HD, displays 1024 by 768 lines and costs $3,500. A lower-resolution model, which displays 852 by 480 lines, is priced at $2,300. Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, will take orders beginning on Oct. 27, he said.

Dell also is releasing new versions of its Digital Jukebox music player. The smallest of the two new models weighs 4.4 ounces, stores as many as 2,500 songs and runs about 10 hours on a fully charged battery. A larger version with 20 gigabytes of storage can hold as many as 9,000 songs and run for as long as 12 hours. The music players accept songs in MP3, WMA and wav formats.

While the Pocket DJ is heavier than the 3.6-ounce Apple Computer Inc. iPod Mini, it is priced at $199, 20% less than the iPod Mini, and stores more than twice as many songs. Dell said its redesigned DJ20 will cost $249. Both continue the company's use of a scroll-wheel for flipping among songs, and are available beginning in November.

Dell is also introducing two new printers for the consumer and small-business market. The Dell Photo Printer 540 comes equipped with memory-card slots that allow digital pictures to be printed in 4-by-6-inch formats without involving a PC. The printer is priced at $189 and is available immediately, the company said.

It also is releasing a new device for small businesses and home offices that combines color printer, fax, copier and scanner into one device. The Dell Photo All-in-One 942 is priced at $149 after a $30 rebate, and prints black and white documents at up to 19 pages a minute and color at up to 14 pages a minute. Both are available immediately in the U.S.

Write to Gary McWilliams at gary.mcwilliams@wsj.com