Dell Computers has added another retail partner to a stable that includes Wal-Mart and Staples. After Christmas, Best Buy stores will begin selling Dell desktop and laptop computers at over 900 retail locations. The move is the latest by Michael Dell after retaking the reins of the company he founded. In fact, one analyst likened this move to a religious conversion.

“That’s like going from being committed to one religion to being pagan,” said Richard Shim, PC industry analyst at IDC. “They needed distribution, particularly to consumer retail, and Best Buy, that’s center stage.”

Dell: Not the PC company you used to know (News.com)

There are also rumblings that the computer giant will be focused on acquiring new business units, and one analyst suggested Motorola’s handheld phone unit, which could give Dell more ways to compete with Apple. Dell also announced that their board approved a $10 billion stock buyback, reflecting Dell’s opinion that the stock will be appreciating over the long term. Many industry analysts feel the same way, even after Dell shares suffered a 14% drop last week as a result of their missing analyst’s profit projections.

Dell could eye Motorola unit, Attachmate, others to boost growth, sources say (Financial Times)

Dell: Turnaround Plan Not About Quick Fixes (ChannelWeb)

Dell shares drop in premarket, but analysts confident in Dell’s turnaround plans (TradingMarkets.com)

Dell has been on top of the industry for quite some time now and circumstances had started to make it appear that Dell would begin losing its throne like so many other PC makers in the past, the most prominent being Compaq. However, Michael Dell’s aggressive, outside-the-box thinking seems to have turned the company around, even though the turnaround is still a work in progress.

Personally, I like Dell computers and trust the manufacturer to build a solid computer and then support it well. My entire work environment is Dell, with the exception of a few special purpose machines and appliances, and things have been remarkably stable, particularly on the server side. Do you think Dell’s fortunes are turning around?

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