Dell's Extreme Makeover How Michael Dell is trying to change almost everything about the computer company he founded
pg4 of 4 .... Garriques' consumer group has been making some dramatic changes. In October, to coincide with the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, Dell will begin selling the world's thinnest notebook, at 0.39-inches thick. The Adamo XPS has a heat-sensing strip on the lip that, when swiped with a finger, glows white and automatically opens the aluminum lid. Garriques says the $2,000 computer will serve as a statement about Dell. "This isn't going to be a high-volume product for us, but it's going to be a product that says, 'Wow! Dell did that. What else does Dell have?' " he says.
With Garriques and the other division heads taking more control over operations, Michael Dell has been freed up to explore new opportunities. Over the summer, he had dinner at the Four Seasons in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood with James W. Breyer, a Dell board member and founding partner of the venture capital firm Accel Partners. Over steaks and red wine, Dell talked about prospects in mobile phones and other products. He then pulled out a half-dozen smartphone prototypes. "The way he laid it out, his thinking, led me to believe that in many ways the journey at Dell is just in the first or second inning," Breyer says. The company is expected to introduce its first smartphones early next year.
Dell is beginning to show improvement in its financial results. In its most recent earnings report, the company handily beat Wall Street's expectations. Dell shares have doubled since their low in February, to $16, as hopes mount that the company will benefit from a surge in PC purchases tied to Windows 7.
