Microsoft may be helping Dell go private by providing a $2 billion contribution, but one area Redmond is said to have not contributed at all is in lifting sales of Dell and other hardware makers.
In fact, Dell believes the House of Windows is partially at fault for (some of) the financial problems of the hardware vendor. Or at least, its latest operating system is at fault.
The company mentioned the slow early uptake of Windows 8 as one of the reasons it decided to go private. This was cited in a statement submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The statement reads something like this:
“The deteriorating outlook for the PC market as a result of, among other things, smartphones and tablets cannibalizing PC sales, the uncertain adoption of the Windows 8 operating system and unexpected slowdowns in enterprise Windows 7 upgrades, and faster than expected declines in PC shipments in emerging markets.”
Not really sure any comment is necessary here.
Surely the biggest reason for declining PC sales is the sheer explosion of tablets (and to a lesser extent smartphones), both of which have immensely grown in power and functionality these past few years.
While Microsoft has not yet provided any updated sales details on Windows 8, analyst and industry insiders are of the view that the new OS has experienced a slow adoption ever since its October 2012 launch, but maybe, just maybe, hardware manufacturers were expecting a tad too much from the OS.
Oh well, no one ever said the technology industry was dull and dreary.
There are a lot of reasons for the declining sales of PC hardware — Windows 8 may be one of them yes, but there are several other internal and external causes for the slump.
All Comments
has dell ever stopped to think their products are to blame. they tried smartphones and tablets and failed. their computers are not much better either.
Agreed. They just don’t have it in them to really innovate.