Dell was recently purchased for $24 billion by a consortium led by the company’s Michael Dell. This is as good an example of any of the transition the PC industry is going through.
“I think everybody in the PC business has had Apple envy, and I would imagine Michael Dell would be no different,” says Forrester analyst David Johnson.
Making Dell a private entity again will make it easier to cut under-performing businesses, performing layoffs where necessary while allowing them to focus on more profitable software, services, mobile, and cloud services. Eventually, the company will want to make Dell more compatible with the modern age of electronic devices and then do another IPO.
“Michael Dell and the Dell brand are very closely aligned. He’s got a lot of personal equity in that,” says IDC analyst Crawford Del Prete.
PC sales slipped 6.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, according to Gartner. Meanwhile, tablet sales worldwide grew 75 percent in the same period, according to researcher IDC.
“They can start experimenting in mobile products,” says Del Prete. “If they get a winner, they can drive that through Dell’s market.”
Source: USAtoday.com
