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Dell sets sights on PC-maker crown in Asia

The company is confident it can become the top PC maker in Asia after strong performance in the region helped boost first-quarter results
Written by Vivian Yeo, Contributor

Dell's path towards the top spot in Asia is now "clearer", according to its president for the Asia-Pacific and Japan region, Stephen Felice.

The PC maker is confident of reaching its goal, based on its first-quarter results, which were announced on Thursday in the US, said Felice in a telephone briefing on Friday. Dell reported total revenues of $16bn (£8bn), an increase of nine percent over the same period last year.

The company, he said, is pleased with the "truly outstanding performance in this part of the world" derived from the various product lines and customer segments.

Year on year, the Asia-Pacific and Japan region reported a 31 percent jump in unit shipments for the first quarter, compared to 22 percent globally. In terms of revenue, the Asia-Pacific and Japan region grew by 19 percent, to $2.02bn.

Growth in the region was led by India and China, with year-on-year revenue increases of 52 percent and 30 percent, respectively. Product shipments in India, noted Felice, grew 10 times faster than the industry average, while the growth in notebook shipments to China was three times the industry average.

Dell, added Felice, has also enjoyed five quarters of sequential market-share gains in the region.

"In the Asia-Pacific and Japan region, we're pretty open about our goal to become number one," he said. "Now, more than ever, I see a clearer path to that. We have confidence that our ambitions are real and that we have a way to get there."

The ambitious moves that Dell made in China earlier this year, such as expanding beyond tier-one and tier-two cities, are starting to pay off, Felice told ZDNet Asia.

Calling growth in China this quarter "stunning", Felice said Dell grew over two times faster than market leader Lenovo. The country, he added, will continue to play a significant part in Dell's overall growth.

Emerging markets, on a whole, also provided strong performances in Dell's first-quarter results. The Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) segment recorded a year-on-year increase of 73 percent for unit shipments and 58 percent for revenue in the quarter.

In addition, the company reported that revenue from international markets exceeded that from the US for the first time.

Felice noted that markets outside of the US will continue to outperform Dell's domestic market.

"It's very conceivable that two-thirds of the revenue [will come] from outside of the US five years from now," he added.

At the D6 conference this week, Dell chief executive Michael Dell said the company has in the past missed key industry trends, such as retail sales, but has picked itself up again.

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