Siemens PCs viewed as too pricey

Hardware German manufacturer will not rule out an alliance with another vendor to improve its overseas profile.

Siemens has admitted that its PCs are perceived by customers as beinger vendor to improve its overseas profile. more expensive than rival systems, as it launched its desktop range last week.

According to Alan Norman, UK marketing director at Siemens, it was the search for lower price points that brought about the outsourcing discussions with Acer last year. 'In opening up the discussions with Acer, we were looking for that kind of benefit,' he conceded.

However, Norman said Siemens later became convinced that the price points would not have been significantly reduced even if the Acer deal had gone through.

'During the course of those discussions, we learnt the benefits were not as great as we thought they might have been,' he added.

The manufacturer has instead decided to revamp its range of PCs, and position them as offering a lower total cost of ownership, rather than a cheaper initial price point to achieve a top-three ranking in the UK market.

Following last year's failed bid to sell its manufacturing operation to Acer, Siemens now plans to go it alone in the PC market (PC Dealer, 16 September 1998).

But the vendor admitted that it was still open to the possibility of an alliance with another PC vendor that could help enhance the German company's profile in the US and Asia.

'We're seeing our PC business grow dramatically and we have a strong market leadership position in Europe, so we don't need to partner with anyone else here,' Norman said.

'However, I wouldn't rule out some co-operation with another company to penetrate other markets in the US and the Far East,' he revealed.

Siemens launched the Scenic 300 and 500 PCs on 24 February, targeting SMEs. The products will be shipped to the channel this month.

The manufacturer also plans to introduce the Scenic 600 and 800 high-performance PCs. Designed for the professional desktop users, the machines will be available by April.