Whom Dell Really Sells To

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It is not often that The Business Press Maven disbelieves his own press. And I normally, of course, need oversight like a fish needs a bicycle.

But someone who vilifies others should do the same to himself ... in those odd, highly infrequent circumstances where he is as dopey as the rest of the business media.

That brings us to Round Rock and Dell (DELL - commentary - Cramer's Take).

The company, which had to stay silent because the feds are lurking about (you know how that can be), released earnings yesterday, without a conference call or any other direct contact with the public. But my mea culpa has nothing to do with yesterday's earnings or management hiding under desks in Round Rock, Texas.

Knowing the Customer

I wrote recently about Dell's move to sell to consumers through Wal-Mart (WMT - commentary - Cramer's Take). This is an obvious departure from the direct-selling model that has defined Dell for years, and The Business Press Maven was right to say that the move should have been judged against an old quote by Michael Dell, who said after an experiment selling through Sam's Club more than a decade ago that it was nearly impossible for Dell to make money selling that way. Most of the business media, without a Dell official to talk to, instead pulled quotes from the press release about how fine and dandy things would be.

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At the time of publication, Fuchs had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this column.

A journalist with a background on Wall Street, Marek Fuchs has written the County Lines column for The New York Times for the past five years. He also contributes regular breaking news and feature stories to many of the paper's other sections, including Metro, National and Sports. Fuchs was the editor-in-chief of Fertilemind.net, a financial Web site twice named "Best of the Web" by Forbes Magazine. He was also a stockbroker with Shearson Lehman Brothers in Manhattan and a money manager. He is currently writing a chapter for a book coming out in early 2007 on a really embarrassing subject. He lives in a loud house with three children. Fuchs appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.