Sony Trade-In Offer Puts Bull's-Eye On Dell Laptops

“I think that&'s actually great,” said Andrew Krantz, senior account manager at Westwood Computer, a solution provider in Springfield, N.J. “Anything that targets Dell is good. Dell has a unique way of stealing business, so any way we could steal business back is positive.”

Sony&'s trade-in offer of $500 for working Dell systems eclipses the $300 the San Jose, Calif.-based IT products division provides on all other systems for Vaio BX series notebooks. Sony said the $500 rebate can be claimed by solution providers for their clients.

Both that deal, and a new spif, will stretch through the end of the first calendar quarter. The spifs provide for $40 cash payments, per unit, on Sony Vaio BX notebooks. The BX series is the company&'s primary system targeted at the commercial space and is delivered through the solution provider channel.

Sony channel executives have also said they are considering a model that would boost financial incentives for Vaio dealers that also sell other aspects of Sony&'s IT product line, including displays and optical drives.

Sony executives delivered a message last fall, in the midst of a major executive reorganization in which Howard Stringer was appointed chairman and CEO, that set out to assure the channel that its strategy of engaging solution providers to reach the U.S. commercial market had not changed. That strategy was put in place two years ago, and executives said that channel sales have been steady ever since.

By targeting Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, Sony is going after a rival that is still dominant in market share and price competition, but also a competitor that last year reported two straight financial quarters that disappointed Wall Street.

But, despite these disappointing financials, Dell closed out December with momentum. Based on CRN research polls, Dell notebooks were listed as the “best-selling brand” by 35 percent of solution providers surveyed during the month.

In addition, according to research firm IDC, Dell grew its overall PC market share in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2005. Company Chairman Michael Dell said earlier this month that Dell shipped 10 million PCs during the quarter.

The trade-in offer stands as one side of the love-hate relationship between Sony and Dell. The other side: Stringer invited Michael Dell to take part in his keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, where both announced their backing of the forthcoming Blu-ray Disc technology.

“Dell is my toughest competitor,” Westwood Computer&'s Krantz said. “They&'re even a tougher competitor than other resellers.”