“Michael Dell says he has little interest in buying Hewlett-Packard’s PC business, but the Dell chief executive says his computer company is poised to gain market share as its larger rival undergoes a comprehensive restructuring,” Maija Palmer reports for The Financial Times.
“PC sales have come under particular pressure in the past year as consumers in western Europe and the US migrate to buying tablets and smartphones. This month Gartner, the research company, substantially lowered its forecast for global sales growth for the sector. Last month, Dell itself was forced to cut its revenue growth forecasts for the year, citing weakening consumer demand and delayed orders by public sector customers,” Palmer reports. “Nevertheless, Mr Dell believes we are not yet in a post-PC era.”
“‘There are a billion and a half PCs in the world and while Gartner change their estimates here and there, they also estimate there will be two billion PCs in the world by 2014. So when I look at that, I think the idea that the PC is no longer here is complete nonsense,’ he says,” Palmer reports. “Mr Dell indicates that the IT company is still looking to compete in the difficult tablet market. Dell’s Streak tablet, launched last year, has not sold well, and HP abandoned its TouchPad tablet after finding it too difficult to compete with Apple’s iPad. Sharp, the Japanese electronics company, recently said it would stop making its Galapagos tablets. Rumours have suggested that Dell, however, is planning to launch a tablet running Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system next year.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As Steve Jobs said back in June 2010:
When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks, because that’s what you needed on the farm. But as vehicles started to be used in the urban centers, cars got more popular. Innovations like automatic transmission and power steering and things that you didn’t care about in a truck as much started to become paramount in cars… PCs are going to be like trucks. They’re still going to be around, they’re still going to have a lot of value, but they’re going to be used by one out of X people… I think that we’re embarked on that. Is the next step the iPad? Who knows? Will it happen next year or five years from now or seven years from now? Who knows? But I think we’re headed in that direction… We like to talk about the post-PC era, but when it really starts to happen, it’s uncomfortable [to those in the PC business].
How many Windoze PCs does Dell have to sell today to make the same amount Apple makes on the average Mac? Six? Seven? HP’s concession buys Dell time, but he’d better transition into a services company or he’s doomed. And servers aren’t going to make up the difference. Even Mikey’s smart enough to realize that.
Dear Micheal Dell,
Please take your advice. Close the company and give the money back to the shareholders.
Sincerely,
The share holders
Dell would do well by taking his own advice to Steve Jobs.
Dell recently reported overall operating margins of just 2.5%. If he sold the company and invested the money in an ordinary savings account, he would get a much greater return.
Not sure where you live, but in the U.S. the average savings account is paying around 0.4%. No love here for Dell, but let’s not make up statistics to make a point.
I live in the UK. Its easy to find plenty of banks and building societies here offering savings rates of around 2.8%
Then I hope Apple is using UK banks to hold some of their $70 billion. Thanks for the info.
The 2.8% is for amounts under $xxxxx dollars.
For huge amounts you’ll have a 0.x%.
Banks aren’t that stupid.
The “PC” is still here. But more and more of them are going to be Macs.
Exactly.
Up to about 5% worldwide now although about 10% in the US and about 85% in my neighborhood…
Michael Dell…the master of moving to where no puck will ever go.
good one, eheh.
It’s like he’s asking for it.
It will be in iCal. Dell will go down the tubes.
I believe in unicorns. That must mean I’m qualified to be a CEO of a major technology company…
yes michael the pc is not here anymore…
its here in my hand – lets hope Apple allows this in iOS5 for legit…
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=16986
yeah its a theme – but – hell the pc in not on my desktop — its in my hand – lol.
Running a theme to emulate a mouse based environment (from 10 years ago) on an iPhone.
Wow my friend, you have pegged both the irony and the cluelessness meters, simultaneously.
Nicely put. “My verbosity is exceeded only my eloquence…”
I guess I should have written it:
“you have have found a video that pegged both the irony and the cluelessness meters, simultaneously.”
(I am assuming that WF did get the utter absurdity of it)
Oh… and the Cydia/APT mumbo jumbo in the preamble…. Effing priceless!
Exactly the point. I was joking. Yes it is merely a theme as I mentioned.
The point was the personal computer hasn’t disappeared. No, we are accessing the pc/mac still – by hand helds. Hence a great need for them. Not only do we sync or control our pc from a remote source but we need both devices to speak with the cloud. Servers, desktops and smartdevices.
Yes, a lame illustration yet poorly accepted and misunderstood. Sorry to have annoyed you.
It’s not as outrageous/fun as as other things he’s said in the past. The PC is still a growth business, even if profits are not. When I saw Michael Dell’s name in the headline, I was expecting more foot-in-the-mouth.
Maybe next time.
Umm…I don’t recall anyone saying that there won’t be any PCs in the Post PC era. I think M Dell is hearing footsteps behind him.
Exactly. He’s just a f’n moron because 2 years later he STILL doesn’t understand the car/truck analogy.
The quote in the headline is a nice compact example of a Straw Man argument – build a fake “straw man” version of your opponent’s argument (which is crucially different from what your opponent actually said), and then attack the weaknesses in the straw man argument you just created.
If the industry does’t take profit anymore then yes, there will be 2 billion PCs in the world. It’s funny that a CEO like Dell thinks that there’s still business when PC demands are increasing although the industry suffers it’s profit.
Post PC simply menas what Steve Jobs asid at The icloud keynote: The PC is getting downgraded from the hub to a device. It is still a vital part of the digital world, it just isn’t the only part, and sometimes isn’t the primary part.
No one said the PC is no longer here. It’s just reserved for offices and banks and bla bla bla boring markets.
“Rumours have suggested that Dell, however, is planning to launch a tablet running Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system next year.”
Wow. So first he does a stupid strawman (refuting a statement no one ever said), then throws his weight behind tablets. Way to burn Apple.
Is Steve Jobs actually paying you do say these stupid things, Mikey? Just stop talking to the Media for another 10 years, mmkay?
You’d think that with all of the Dell ad’s on your site you’d be agreeing with him!
Aside from being a pig-eyed idiot, Michael Dell ceased being relevant years ago. Who gives a rat’s rear end what he says.
With his mentality his best bet would be to forget about tablets and focus on making high quality workstations with decent margins. Make companies believe they need the value they provide.
If all you know how to do is make basic box machines mr. Dell then you might as well positiin yourself as the best “truck” maker and prepare for a world in which you are not a consumer brand.
Oh and make your own OS cause windows is becoming a boat anchor with each passing day
Mickey Boy may be crazy but he sure have a pretty sexy wife.
Money buys a lot of things.
Since Jobs never said that the PC is no longer here (or anything like that; he said that PCs will continue to be successful, though quantitatively limited versus tablets, comparing it to trucks versus cars), Dell’s quote is irrelevant.
The only way the PC is a growth industry in Dell’s mind is if it grows at the end of his dick.
Dell should buy RIMM and combine all three CEO’s together! The Three Muskateers! It would make for a great reality TV show.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/michael-dell-outsourcing-jobs-timeline
Oh, another brain fart from Michael Dull. But he has point, there are millions of people out there that are just a retarded as he is.
In terms of “Workstations”, Dell isn’t that wrong… But for all other common uses, he’s totally dropped.
Michael Dull Dell:
shut the heck up. you lost years ago. now you’re just uttering your own worldwide ridicule. it’s more shameful than Billy Cliton–whose world’s most famous blow job was at least gutsy & humorous. way to go Bill, we miss you!
bill did a good job, at least. what he does in private is not our biz. but you Michael dear, your claim to fame is this: you conceived a cheap shit pc, diluted for the masses, when you started off college. the Cheapo Factor, not the X Factor, made you affordable, hence popular. but just like IBM/Microsoft, your demise is your own doing. cheap f’g shit. big mouth. big plans. much hype. nada inside. adding color to your industrial design does not add quality you moron.
you get so much credit for changing the pc industry, yet, it is you who has to shut down your brain, not steve jobs who should have apple give you a job soOn.
you actually, never made sense. but every criminal entrepreneur, lying to customers by fooling them to buy crap, and for so long, eventually pays the price, in this life time.
the shame is that steve jobs got the cancer, when it’s all the other managers & ceos who should’ve. it’s harsh, sorry, but if you can’t handle the truth, eat your own words. shut down. now. save your life & health. though you won’t be remembered for much else than rubbish.
like simon cow ell said on american idol for so long, despite america’s shock that he should not speak negatively: it’s not negative to know one’s limitations, it’s healthier to quit when you’re still young, not to waste the rest of your life away in the wrong direction. it’s a win-win situation, since we, the customers, buyers, would have less b.s. in there market too.
go home, retire, get laid. gracias!
It doesn’t take a 100% drop in sales to destroy a company. 20% or even less would do it for a low-margin operation.
Mike is 100% right, the PC is not dead. Just look at Mac sales…
Let’s see. Don’t need a Dell to browse the web. Don’t need a Dell to play games. Don’t need a Dell to do office work. Don’t need a Dell to watch vids.
Bottom line: Don’t need a Dell so send them to Hell.