Compaq Computer Corp doesn’t see Toshiba Corp’s entry into the UK desktop market as any kind of threat. Toshiba announced last month that it was breaking into the UK arena in a bid to challenge Compaq’s market lead (CI No 3,173) and haul itself into third place. But Compaq has said its nearest rival is Dell Computer Corp and believes it has a decent advantage over the Round Rock, Texas Fortune 500 company. Compaq believes the way ahead lies in the indirect sales channel and boasts it can deliver goods within 24 hours of an order being placed. But Dell, which adopts a direct sales approach, has much lower overheads and a report in the Wall Street Journal yesterday suggest that Compaq is going to announce low prices for the new machines in a bid to reverse inroads made by Dell. It does however point out that, according to figures from DataQuest Inc, the desktop market grew by only 1.7% in the first quarter.
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