Go-Kite:
I don't mind the questions, but I'm afraid I don't have the answers. As I said, I got the impression the fellow was in sales. On the subject of FDE's, I got the impression that he was frustrated by the delayed launch and, reading between the lines, also got the impression that he had had to explain to more than one customer that there would be a delay in shipping the product that they wanted. My impression, again reading between the lines, was that there were customers lined up and waiting for the product before the launch, and that as new orders were coming in post-launch Dell was having to choose which customers got their orders first, necessarily making some customers unhappy. He lumped Wave in with the category of people who were "cranky," saying that Wave had customers lined up, referred them to Dell, and that shipments were not going out fast enough "for their liking." He didn't say who at Wave was cranky, or even that he was the guy talking to Wave. I hate to keep speaking in terms of impressions, but it's all I've got. I got the ultimate impression that the guy was bragging, in a way, saying that Dell has such a hot product that they're having trouble meeting demand. He didn't say how much trouble, how much of a backlog there was, or what the typical delay was.
I take everything a salesman says (once again, it was my impression that he was in sales) with a big grain of salt. But he was the one who brought up the subject of delays, not me. To be clear, he mentioned delay in the context of the launch, but with respect to shipments post-launch he was talking in terms of getting product to customers when they wanted it. He didn't indicate that there was any problem with the supply chain, parts shortages, strikes, etc. He didn't indicate that they were not shipping product as fast as they expected they would have to. He just indicated that they were not shipping product fast enough to make all of the customers happy. As I had brought up Wave, he mentioned that Dell was not shipping product as fast as Wave wanted them to.
Oh yes, and he mentioned that Wave gets a 15% commission on every customer referral, which already totals in the tens of millions.
Just kidding.
Dory
AI
