Dell Inc. announced on Thursday it will begin selling PCs at more than 900 Best Buy Co. Inc. stores in an attempt to gain more of the U.S. consumer market.

Dell initially sold its computers directly to consumers, but after losing the title of top PC vendor to Hewlett-Packard last year, it began looking for new ways to boost sales, including extended its purchase options to retail stores. As of January 2008, Best Buy will carry Dell's XPS and Inspiron laptops as well as desktop computers.

The world's second-largest computer maker announced a similar deal earlier this year with the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Dell's products are available in 3,000 of their stores.

The company has also signed deals with other retail stores and will soon be available in Staples Inc., France's Carrefour SA, Japan's Bic Camera, UK's Carphone Warehouse and Gome, China's largest electronics retailer.

After Dell reported its fiscal third-quarter sales on Nov. 29, the company said notebooks sales had risen 19 percent from 2006, accounting for $4.7 billion of Dell's quarterly sales of $15.65 billion.

Dell shares rose 5 cents to $24.36 following the Best Buy announcement.

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