Dell to Quit Selling Its Own LCD TVs

Dell got into the HDTV business with a bang but is going out with a whimper. Company sources are quoted in a Bloomberg News story as saying that Dell with cease marketing its own LCD TVs, primarily because it's not selling any of them. According to research firm DisplaySearch, Dell isn't among the top 30 companies selling LCD TVs, and with about 6,000 units left in inventory, will quit contracting to have them made in favor of continuing to sell more established HDTV brands like Sony Bravia.

This news really shouldn't come as a big shock to anyone, as Dell's HDTVs were never seen as very high-quality and the LCD TV side of the business in particular has become so competitive over the last year or so. Dell bet that its brand name would be enough to establish a foothold in the HDTV industry, but with falling prices and so many choices, consumers are buying from either well-known TV brands like Sony, Panasonic and Samsung, or upstart brands like Vizio that offer cut-rate pricing along with a good-quality picture. Dell treated HDTVs as commodities like PCs with no real value-add to speak of, a strategy that flat-out just didn't work.