Dell Wants HP’s Sloppy Seconds

Dell’s Partner Portal is addressing a vital business development: PC industry changes. And by “PC Industry Changes” it means, “OMG, HP is totes WTFBBQ so you’d better buy a Dell, dude.” Or at least, that was my takeaway.

Michael Dell tweeted that his company is to “woo” sales partners. But follow the link, and instead of wooing, I see a lot of scaring.

The landing page starts off not by extolling Dell, but by noting that HP is (charitably) in flux. It reminds you that HP is ditching WebOS hardware business and getting out of the PC business to boot and, oh yeah, that “there has never been a better time to Partner with Dell”. The page finishes off with a bunch of links to stories in the press about what a state of disarray HP is in, and a prominent analyst quote that questions whether or not HP will service and support anything tomorrow that it sells today.

Dell is very explicitly preying on fears that HP could leave its current and potential customers high and dry. It’s a great tactic, and a really smart play. Despite HPs assurances to the contrary, the company’s actions over the past year have been amounted to one long series of unpredictable bad moves. Dell wants to remind you of that.

Sure, it may be a little unseemly, but who cares. It’s also effective and to the point. Selling against once-mighty HP’s future is now officially a great business strategy.