Dell's devices head resigns
Research #Dell #Industry · 8 comments
by Horace Dediu
Garriques will leave Dell at the end of January after nearly four years on the job. Prior to Dell, Garriques had been the mobile device chief at Motorola until early 2007.
via Dell's Device Plan Reboots, Exec is Out - TheStreet.
Here is how Ed Zander (the former CEO of Motorola) described Garriques soon after he left the company.
...Zander didn't have a lot of good to say about the former team running Motorola's cell-phone business. "The management in mobile devices made calls that were dead wrong," he said, referring not so much to massive price slashing on the popular Razr as to the slow-footed move into so-called 3G (for third-generation) multimedia phones. That particular slam was directed at a young guy named Ron Garriques, who headed that division, which is most of Motorola's business today, before high-tailing it out of Motorola just before the you-know-what hit the fan. Garriques today is part of the crack team turning around Dell.
His move to Dell caused quite a lot of speculation that Dell was going to be a serious contender in the mobile device space (despite their previous failures).
Apparently the launch of the Android-powered Streak was not enough to cement his future at Dell.
8 comments
FalKirk ·
"Apparently the launch of the Android-powered Streak was not enough to cement his future at Dell."
You write with a very sly wit, Horace Dediu.
OpenMind ·
Dell should have tried harder to outbid HP for Palm. Now, in a few years, Dell will be gone, memorized as one of once best make-for-order PC company.
Marcos El Malo ·
You think? The brand is probably worth something to a Chinese manufacturer. If worse comes to worst, they'll be bought. The name will live on for a while.
OpenMind ·
I am Austin local (no, not working for Dell). I would root for Dell if they are doing good. Unfortunately, Mr. Dell seems lost his edge. He just doesn't get it anymore. It is a matter of time.
Russell ·
yea, dell needs to pull the nose up on it if they are going get in the game. they are too skewed to PCs and desktops, and this time its not about either one of them.
Alexkhan2000 ·
Dell has become synonymous with the brand you see in massive government agencies, the accounting department in financial corporations, and on the front desks of big hotels. But even Dell's long-time grip on such unglamorous locations for their wares is being threatened by Acer and Lenovo.
Dell's market cap is less than one-tenths of that of Apple's. Now Michael Dell has to be constantly reminded of that famous comment he made over a decade ago about how if he was running Apple he'd sell the company and return the money to the shareholders. Talk about eating crow... Seriously, it's what Jobs would do if he was given helm of Dell. What a miserable position Dell is mired in...
They'll keep trudging along in the PC/server business but I just don't see them even getting their foot in the door of the mobile market.
Jamie ·
Dell's problem is that they've been trying to compete in new product markets where a hands on experience is essential before purchasing - phones, media players, tablet devices etc. Unfortunately, as far as I can see Dell don't have any retail presence where potential customers can play with the devices.
Info Dave ·
"Apparently the launch of the Android-powered Streak was not enough to cement his future at Dell."
No, but it does appear to have cemented his departure. If Garriques left Motorola at just the right time, what does it say about the future of Dell's mobile business?