If you are looking for a sign that tablets own the personal computer space then Dell has been doing it in lights the last few days. Dell, Lenovo and HP are all in survival mode. It is becoming clearer by the day that personal computer businesses need to have a tablet and mobile product line. If you don’t, your customers will then be looking elsewhere.
HP is at the moment re-looking their holdings and has said they will not be having a mobile phone in 2013. Lenovo is pushing the envelope by going out of the box, trying to create markets for their products. Dell is considering selling a majority of their business to private equity firms. If Dell goes Private they no longer have to disclose earnings with the entire PC industry and Wall street. It is a sad thought that Michael Dell, who can be seen as one of the first PC entrepreneurs, considers taking his company private.
Traditional PC‘s is an industry that is declining. Buying a computer now provides you with many options and choices to compare from. Making a purchasing decision is very difficult if you want to buy a personal computer.The biggest thing that I think is flying below the radar is that many of the traditional companies have way too many product lines. A customer already has to consider a brand he or she wishes to buy, but providing many options makes it even more difficult. Is the solution a smaller line of products that can be bought in larger quantities?
Dell has for years been a respected company but the changing ecosystem and consumer needs seem to have hit them hard. Are we in the early beginning of a period in which the large behemoths (HP, Dell and Lenovo) start selling non-profitable parts of their businesses to competitors who have cash to acquire divisions they need? One other thing to consider is that Dell might not go private and just go through a period of staff cuts. I am glad my name is not Michael Dell (seen below), as he has some very big decisions to make.
