Dell Inc. continued its upward financial trend, posting record revenue numbers during its first fiscal quarter of 2004. The company, which ended fiscal year 2004 with more than $41 billion in revenue, posted $11.5 billion in sales in the quarter ended April 30, 2004. This is a 21 percent increase over the same period last year. Dell, which is working toward annual revenues of $60 billion, earned $731 million for the quarter; a 22 percent increase over the first quarter of 2004.
This impressive increase was the result of a combination of growing corporate spending, growth in overseas markets, and continued market share growth รป particularly in key areas such as servers and printers. Printer sales were surprising large, with market share growing faster than any other product in Dell history. After just one year of selling Dell-branded printers, Dell's U.S. market share in inkjet printers is more than 10 percent.
The Personal Computer industry has witnessed rapid growth since its inception in 1974. PC unit sales grew from under 500,000 units in 1980 to over 60 million units in 2003. Both hardware and software technology has improved substantially over this period. For example, the microprocessors used in the first-generation personal computers have been continuously improved upon. Each new microprocessor is associated with increased processing speed, enabling the development and use of operating systems that are more sophisticated. The proliferation of advanced technology has encouraged frequent new product introductions. While it is apparent that technology advances and new product introductions continue to be a driving force in sales of personal computer industry, success is heavily dependent on marketing activities.
Prices for personal computers dramatically declined over the last eight years in this industry due to the continuous downward cost trajectory of critical components such as memory chips and hard disk driv...