Dell Opens Gigabuys.com

So Dell is opening a superstore. It is not enough to sell built-to-order PCs. Now you can load your virtual shopping cart at Gigabuys.com with printers, digital cameras, software games, even those Barbies with embedded chips in them. Is the Internet becoming one big Wal-Mart? Which is what CEO Michael Dell must be thinking. His company has a market capitalization of $102 billion, and his share (about 20%) makes him one of the richest men in the world. Its stock price is doubling about every six months. But PC growth is slowing, and we_ve got to keep the stock price rising! So the chairman and CEO of the company that bears his name came to San Francisco to do a virtual ribbon cutting on the new store. He is got a lot of competition. Just take Buy.com. The online superstore, an amalgam of Amazon and Dell, is selling items at cost or below, hoping to make money on advertising. Dell says Gigabuys.com will price products competitively. In fact, Dell thinks businesses like Buy.com aren_t sustainable. Steve Jobs has a Dell fixation. Next thing we know, Apple will attempt to capitalize on its brand, further expanding its online store.