Dell is going to miss its second quarterly revenue target, possibly because it hasn’t done a good job expanding in parts of the world that don’t instinctively kowtow to Texans.

HP has a stronger presence in Europe than does Dell, and Dell is under significant pressure from Lenovo in Asia, according to a recent report by Moors & Cabot analyst Cindy Shaw. Dell had been gaining share in some of these markets but appears to have given back some business in the most recent quarter, according to Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

Dell has made itself a real name in the bargain shopper’s mind over the last couple of years by providing at-times ridiculous coupon deals—so much so, in fact, that many consumers view the deep discounts as Dell’s ‘actual’ price.

If Dell runs out of steam, it’s not a stretch to think those deep discounts may be made more shallow. While we wouldn’t want to pick on Dell alone for its middling-quality—it’s a problem endemic to the bargain PC industry on the whole (although that hardly excuses them)—buying a cut-rate machine should still cost, well, a cut rate. Heaven forbid we should have to move on to HP and Lenovo for our fragile, wonky computing.

Has Dell Derailed? [IDG/PCWorld]

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