Windows Phone Thoughts: The Reason Dell Makes Money

Something quite remarkable just occurred, and it's so simple it boggles the imagination. Last Christmas I bought a Dell 4300S computer for my wife. At the end of this December, the one-year warranty on it expires - we haven't had any problems with it (other than a CD-R issue that seems to have cleared up), so I wasn't consciously aware of the warranty being up in a month. A Dell representative called me to remind me that the warranty was expiring, and offered me an additional year warranty for $99 CND or two years extra for $150. I signed up for an extra year without giving it a second thought - $99 is a small price to pay for a full parts & labour warranty.

In all the years I've been buying consumer electronics, I've never had a manufacturer contact me like this - it's so simple, but can you imagine the revenue it generates for Dell? My respect for Dell's business acumen just went up a notch - they have great instincts for making money in a rough market.