He is talking about a faulty microphone but the comment could just as easily be applied to the run of "technical difficulties" which have plagued the world's largest PC manufacturer over recent months.

Even as the event gets under way in New York, news is breaking that the Securities and Exchange Commission is widening its probe into accounting issues at the Texas-based firm that have led to its shares being suspended on the Nasdaq. Dell has decided at the last minute to cancel an analysts' meeting, also due to take place in New York last week, having already postponed it in April. As a result, a number of unlucky analysts board flights bound for the Big Apple on 11 September, braving heightened security and flight delays due to the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, only to find on their arrival that the 13 September event has been axed from the agenda.

They're not the only ones having to change their plans. A number of Dell executives due to attend a company outing to a New York Yankees baseball game on the evening after the technology day cry off, perhaps wisely deciding that now is not the time for company top brass to be seen on the town.

Lately their social lives have had to take a back seat to a range of unforeseen 'S issues. Last month's technical difficulty was a battery recall, affecting some four million customers. The month before that it was second-quarter earnings figures that showed an alarming 51% decline in profit, sluggish single-digit sales growth and signs that rival HP is winning back market share.

Company founder and chairman Michael Dell is even having to fend off speculation that his long-time colleague and friend Rollins is for the chop. That scenario was unimaginable a year ago when the company was targeting 15% sales growth per year and was on track to hit Rollins's ambitious target of $90bn in sales by 2009.

"Kevin and I run the business together, so if you want to blame somebody you can blame me, " he said in response to questions about his chief executive's future. If Rollins is to justify that vote of confidence, however, he needs to restore the Dell Effect.

Perhaps worryingly for the company's workers in Ireland, a big part of his strategy to do so involves chasing growth in emerging markets. The company is in the process of building its first manufacturing plant in central Europe at Lodz in Poland.

Dell's near-term strategy is to cite factories close to the perceived growth markets for its hardware to reduce delivery time and improve service.

Poland is one of three new plants the company has in the works . . . the others are in India and Brazil . . . to add to the eight it currently has in operation.

Rollins insists that the Limerick plant remains a significant part of Dell's plans. "It's a great factory and I think it will continue to be so, " he said.

The company's "partnership with Ireland" and its relationship with the Irish government has been exceptional and has been the base from which Dell has built its presence in Europe, he said.

He was noncommittal, however, when asked by the Sunday Tribune whether the company would consider moving production or jobs to its new low-cost manufacturing base in central Europe.

Dell has experienced much faster growth in that region over recent quarters than it has in its more established European markets such as the UK, Germany and France. The company's desire to get up-and-running in Poland as a matter of urgency is understandable.

Given the relatively short distances to market within Europe, certainly compared with Dell's home market in the US, it seems reasonable to suppose that moving production to Poland would be an option if justified on cost grounds.

One technology analyst muttered darkly that the new facility would be preferable to an Irish factory which has "seen its best days".

Rollins gave the stock answer when asked if Limerick is still strategically important to Dell. "Ireland will continue to be a great operation for us, meeting the needs of customers throughout Europe."

A contributor to Dell's woes over the past year, though, is the fact that the company has not been meeting customer needs, a trend acknowledged by its eponymous founder. "We weren't living up to the standards that our customers were expecting and that we were expecting in certain areas of our business, " Dell said last week.

The company is spending $150m on new customer care centres, more training for its technicians and new service initiatives to put that right. It has tweaked its website to try to make it easier for customers to buy online. New initiatives include an online support service which will enable users to link their computer to a Dell technician via broadband if any problems develop and allow the technician to "look at" their system and resolve the issue over the web.

The focus on service is not just for show. Dell generates as much as 30% of its operating profit from the extended service contracts and warranties.

According to New York-based investment bank UBS, Dell's gross profit margin fell from 18.6% to 15.2% over the last year. Some analysts suspect this is due to falling take-up for after-sales service including the extended warranties which are one of the company's biggest cash cows.

The company is also making a concerted effort to differentiate its products.

In New York last week, Michael Dell cut an excited figure as he ran through some of its new PC and laptop models.

More energy efficient desktops will save users up to 60 per year on energy bills. High-end corporate laptops feature innovations such as fingerprint ID pads for security.

Dell is also trying to set itself apart on looks, with sleek products that one of the company's executives dubbed "Bang and Olufsen-type designs", name-checking the uber-cool Danish consumer electronics brand. "Very cool products that best fit the needs of our customers, " is how Kevin Rollins sees it.

Style is important to Dell in its efforts to stand out in an increasingly homogeneous market. Almost nine out of every 10 laptops sold by the Dell, HP and Lenovo rely on a clutch of manufacturers in China for their components. A report by Morgan Stanley in the US last year found that a quarter of all laptops sold in the US are actually manufactured by Taipei manufacturer Quanta. Same engine, different chassis.

More significantly for Dell, with everybody going to the same source, cost structures are very similar across the industry and the company has found its traditional cost advantage over its rivals eroded. Nobody has yet found a way to equal the Dell Effect . . . the lean just-in-time manufacturing model that has made the company what it is . . . but it doesn't set the company as far apart from its peers as it once did.

The company is now talking about "Dell 2.0", the new and improved version of the Dell people knew and, until recently, loved. Better service, more customised products and a "deeper customer relationship" will be the hallmarks of Dell 2.0.

"The Dell experience is the number one priority in this company, " said Rollins. The company's new battle-cry for its technical assistance team is "resolve in one", a slogan which acknowledges how Dell's reputation for aftersales service has slipped of late. From now on the company vows that one call to the help desk will be enough to sort out any difficulty which may arise.

Doubtless Michael Dell has placed a call to his staff to sort out the company's own troubles. He will hope that, like Dell's customers, he doesn't need to press redial.

cbrophy@tribune. ie