Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has a new champion: Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). The PC manufacturer is promoting the online sales force-enablement platform as a way to gain access to the hefty sums available in the technology services business. The deal would give Salesforce.com access to Dell's clients in the small and medium-sized business categories. Dell would sell Salesforce.com products and provide consulting services to help clients integrate the solution with their other enterprise applications. The dollars and cents of this union weren't disclosed.

Dell sees the margins of the services business and wants a piece of the action, particularly since the PC sector is low margin. Also, sales have been hit pretty hard as a result of the financial crisis. With PCs accounting for 60% of Dell's top-line, a bit of diversity isn't a bad idea. Currently, services account for only around 10% of Dell's sales.

One could make the case that this is the riskiest period for stocks, certainly since the late-1960s/early-1970s bear market, and perhaps longer.

The U.S. and global economies are in recession. International trade will likely decline substantially in 2009. And so far, the world hasn't identified which growth engines will replace the U.S. consumer, now the frugal U.S. consumer. This kind of environment sends most investors to the sidelines, but that doesn't mean there aren't bargains to be had for investors who can tolerate moderate risk -- and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is one.

It used to be that all tech companies wanted big footprints in the US market. Asia-based PC firms, lead by Lenovo and Acer, have been trying to get into America for years. Their efforts have been hurt by big domestic operators, especially Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), and, more recently, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Perhaps it is lucky for Lenovo that its efforts here have not worked out so well. It is set to announce profits which will be double what it did last year in the same quarter. The company should have a better year than its US rivals because of its strength in China and the rest of Asia.

"The biggest concern is the slowdown in the PC market this year, but Lenovo is best-positioned within the sector since it has the least exposure to the US market," said CLSA analyst Jenny Lai, quoted by Reuters.

The news also underscores that fact that US PC companies are still behind where they would like to be in Asia. This is especially true of Dell, which is only now making deals with retailers in the region to sell its PC.

For once, having trouble getting into the US market may be a blessing.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Depending on who is counting, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has 5% or 6% of the U.S. computer market. That number may have spiked in December. Now the PC companies are in a mad rush to build products that look like Macs.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Spurred in part by the success of Apple Inc.'s innovative products, as well as a consumer shift toward notebook computers, PC makers have begun a radical overhaul of their machines' appearance." That means thinner notebooks, more colorful housings, better keyboards, and improved processing power.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) have already launched upgraded machines and are likely to come out with more as the year passes.

But will being "Mac-like" be enough? Probably not. The Apple machine has a sort of aura from being associated with the iPod and iPhone company. Very few people consider Dell a sexy brand.

So, what do the PC companies do? Probably add lower prices to new features. Macs are expensive. A recession is probably coming. "Cool" may be nice, but not when a consumer can't afford it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Are PC sales dead? Far from it! The personal computer's demise has been predicted in many circles for years now as applications and tools move to the internet from the computer hard drive. But then again, you have Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) both releasing brand-new operating systems this year and trumpeting them all over the world. In Microsoft's case, it's Windows Vista and in Apple's case, it's the Leopard operating system.

The market continues to shift from powerful but bulky desktop PCs toward notebook PCs, and that trend will continue into the holiday season this year. It's scary to think that PC sales would eventually slow down after everyone has bought a notebook, but just in case that happens PC makers are shifting sales focus to markets outside the U.S., something that has been increasing in scale this year.

Let's put it this way -- out of the top consumer electronics "must have" items as measured for this holiday season by the Consumer Electronics Association, computers beat out big-screen TVs, clothes and money (among other things). As measured in the third quarter of this year, PC sales in the U.S. grew at about a 5% rate compared with a 15.5% rate across the rest of the globe.



So PCs are catching fire in many other areas outside the U.S. even as respectable single-digit growth happens here. For an old technology that just continues to apparently get better, PCs are long from dead. My guess is that the hardware is basically no more than a strong commodity, but the internet is what is driving sales of PCs. If you're not connected, then who are you? Someone in the market for a PC, that's who.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) has set up a partnership with Gome, the largest electronics retailer in China.

Gome has 1,000 stores in 168 cities. Dell has had only modest market share in China, behind HP (NYSE: HPQ), Leveno, and Acer. This is primarily due to its lace of retail distribution.

The WSJ adds "China's PC market is expected to sustain annual growth of 25% in the coming three to five years, according to IDC's estimates."

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

It's no surprise that Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) wants to catch back up to rival Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) as the world's leading PC vendor. With those bragging rights come contracts and deals, among other things, and right now, HP is hot, while Dell is not.

So, even as HP continues to sell very well in the U.S. retail sector while Dell is just beginning to test the waters, the world's second-largest PC maker is taking its market share action plan to Japan, looking to overtake NEC as Japan's top PC vendor. In a non-surprise, the company wants to do it by offering a good product selection at retail stores and with custom colors on its products (my guess: laptop PCs only).

Right now, the bulk of Dell's sales in Japan come from corporate customers, similar to how its business has been in the last half-decade in the U.S. market. But, with those sales stagnating a bit and with more consumers venturing into retail stores to buy instead of clicking around a website, Dell had no choice but to attack Japanese sales with a different approach. Sadly, it's years overdue. Dell is quite a bit behind the curve in terms of how to balance its corporate sales versus consumer sales (globally), but at least it's making the effort now instead of 2008.

Dell was so successful with direct sales -- to consumers and corporate customers -- that it apparently let arrogance rule the day, as competitors like HP and Taiwan's Acer were racking up huge numbers in retail stores, where Dell did not even exist. Compound that problem with the fact that laptop PCs are killing desktop PCs in sales in almost every market, and one could see why Dell fell behind. Looking at a standard Dell laptop PC in 2006 was as boring as burnt toast, even as the competition was getting stylish laptop systems into the hands of retailers everywhere. Dell did pass Fujitsu as Japan's second-larger PC vendor in the quarter ended June 30, but stepping ahead of NEC will be no easy task.

Wall Street analysts rushed to the rescue of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) after the computer maker reported that an internal accounting probe found evidence of misconduct.

Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora argued that Dell probably won't face delisting or criminal charges against current executives and Merrill Lynch's Richard Farmer says a major restatement is unlikely, according to the Associated Press.

Their optimism is understandable. Shares of Dell have plunged 20% this year and analysts will certainly look like a geniuses by urging investors to buy the stock when it's cheap. Analysts often come out with positive notes whenever one of their companies has bad news. Sometimes it helps the stock and other times it doesn't.

Dell shares are down in early trading. Investors are betting that things may get worse for Dell.

After all, Dell is losing marketshare to Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ). I almost forgot to mention that it's delayed its 10-K, which is never a good sign.

My colleague Georges Yared wrote earlier today that it was "absolutely amazing" that Dell's shares have held up at their current level. I agree. But even the most aggressive growth investor avoids companies with accounting issues like plutonium. Fund manager Mike Green of Benham & Green Capital Management , who owns Dell shares, told Bloomberg News, "I want to find out what's going on with the accounting. I want to see it in black and white."

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) today struck back at its nemesis Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), announcing a new advertising offering that will let companies connect to people through their PCs, Xboxes, mobile phones and personal digitial assistants.

Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, which the largest software maker will discuss today at the Advertising Week conference in New York, underscores how eager the company is to gets its share of the dollars that are flowing online from traditional media. Earlier this year Microsoft unveiled some well-received improvements to its MSN search engine. It also signed an advertising deal with the red-hot social networking site Facebook. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Microsoft tried to buy Facebook though now the startup is in talks with Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO).

"Microsoft's advertising business is growing quickly and becoming more sophisticated," says Joanne Bradford, Microsoft's corporate vice president of sales and marketing, in a press release. "It is our responsibility to clearly articulate to advertisers how they can apply our broad set of assets and relationships to reach consumers across the many digital touch points of their day."

Microsoft is putting all of its digital advertising eggs, including MSN and Windows Live, in one basket to ``better package its multiplying offerings'' to media buyers, according to the trade publication Media Week. Nonetheless, this is a fine line for the Redmond, Wash. company to walk.

I suspect that people aren't going to be thrilled to see advertisements in places where they aren't used to them. Plus, Microsoft will have to be careful that it doesn't put too many banners in one spot because advertisers don't want to annoy consumers either or have their messages get lost amidst clutter. Companies will have to get creative and design spots for new platforms instead of just repurposing television commercials.

Wall Street is plenty worried about Microsoft's online ad push. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer vowed last June to ``catch Google'' in terms of search relevancy in the next months, according to reports in Cnet and other media outlets. That's a mighty cocky attitude for the company that badly trails both Google and Yahoo! by a wide margin. His statement seemed to be just Bravado at the time.

Ballmer struck again in May. This time, he vowed to put $1.6 billion in MSN and its other online businesses. Investors paid attention and sent Microsoft's shares plummeting to their lowest level in five years, according to Bloomberg News. Analysts derided Ballmer for putting good money after bad and wondered whether he would ever catch Google. They also freetted about Google's efforts to steal Microsoft's core business through free offerings like spreadsheets and email. This coupled with the delays of the new Windows Vista system and worries about the economy made Microsoft the tech stock that Wall Street loved to hate. Between January and May, seven analysts downgraded the stock.

But a funny thing has happened lately. Microsoft is rebounding. The shares, which traded at $23.44 after Ballmer announced the big investment on May 4, recently traded at $26.79. A huge stock buyback and a boost in the dividend no doubt helped.

Don't take this as a sign that investors are thrilled witih Microsoft's online push. Sometimes even unpopular stocks get too cheap to ignore.