Dell sees brisk sales of new ultrabooks
Dell Inc's new ultra-thin laptop computer meant to rival Apple Inc's popular MacBook Air is doing much better than the company expected. Sales of the XPS 13 ultrabook, which hit store shelves on Feb. 28, are now more than double the company's internal forecast, driven by strong demand from both consumers and big corporations, Dell said. "With this product, we went aggressive with the forecast," Dell product marketing director Alison Gardner said. "Since we started shipping it to customers, XPS 13 has exceeded our expectations." Almost half of the sales of the XPS 13, which starts at $999, were to corporations, she added. Dell's so-called enterprise business has doubled in the past five to six years and now represents half of the company's profit. While Gardner declined to reveal the exact number of units sold so far or the internal forecast, she said Dell is seeing a lot of sales momentum for the super-thin category of laptops. ...