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Dell Gives Android the Boot, Boots Up More Windows 8
hugheseyau writes "Dell vice chairman Jeff Clarke made a less than shocking announcement at this year's Dell World Conference in Austin. The company is officially giving up on Android phones and tablets. ... So if Dell is giving up on Android, what comes next? The company claims it's doubling down on Windows 8, and the enterprise market."
Windows 8 and Server 2012 are far from "enterprise" they are basically toys. And don't even get me started on RT, RT is a hunk of junk, you'd think its a Microsoft product so you can at least join it to your Microsoft Active Directory domain to help centrally manage at some basic level, I won't even go so far as to ask for a little Group Policy.
Customers disappearing? It's time to turn back the clock and go back to what made your name in the first place. If you're a restaurant, it's a great idea. If you're a technology company, it's suicide. Bye Dell, it was nice while you lasted!
Will Dell go the way Noika has? Time will tell.
As I've said for years, friends (family) doesn't let friends (family) buy Dell.
Be seeing you...
I hope not, it looks pretty good.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
It's not like Dell hasn't wandered into markets before and failed miserably
Of course sometimes they just don't know when to quit.
Eventually, they'll get the hint and just focus on making servers and business workstations...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
So why dump Android? According to Clarke, “It’s a content play with Android”. “Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search.
So, basically, there was competent competition, and Dell's me-toosim wasn't cutting it.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Dell made an Android tablet, known as the Dell Streak, it was not a success. Expensive, crap screen, underpowered, cheapy feeling.
So now they're switching to Windows 8, with their expensive underpowered crap screens, cheap feeling tablets, THEY'RE SURE TO BE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL!!!
Methinks they're not fixing the real problem. Android sell in bucket loads and if they couldn't sell a tablet with it, then they needed to refine their tablet designs till they did sell. Change Android for Windows 8, doesn't fix their problems, it just adds another one: no touch apps.
It's all going BYOD. As much as I hate it, its all going BYOD. Bad move, Dell.
Even RIM, which is based on the enterprise, is changing.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,"
Michael Dell
To me, the news is that Dell made phones/tablets. I'd never heard of them before, nor have I ever seen any.
Am I the only one here?
Last time I checked, gambling behavior as a primary hobby or profession wasn't considered respectable or responsible, it was considered borderline sociopathic.
If I were a stockholder I'd be worried. Technology these days seems to be about a combination of giving people what they want and convincing people of what they want. Android, to an extent, is giving people what they want, as Android is popular with users as well as with OEMs. Windows 8, by and large, does not appear to be popular, either in portable devices or on the desktop.
So, Dell is now moving to a system of neither giving people what they want, nor convincing people of what they want.
I don't think that Dell is in any danger of going Chapter 7. Where I work buys Dell just about exclusively, in a 30,000 desktop environment. The paltry sales Apple or other OEMs get is almost not worth mentioning. But, their extra markets, like phones, tablets, and other consumer devices will probably die.
I had actually wanted a Dell phone back in the day, but they weren't compatible with my cell provider. Otherwise they had the features I wanted. Pity that...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
As the only Dell Streak 7 Android developer left, it doesn't surprise me that Dell has abandoned Android. I've spent over a year trying to get them to comply with the GPL and give me the last source code for their last kernel update. Every request I have put forth has been turned down or rejected. I still try my best to keep this tablet up to date with ICS and JB, but I can only do so much without more support.
And I was just about to buy a thousand Dell "Streak" Android Tablets to be the backbone of my business for the next 10 years. I mean - who could pass up on "America's First 4G 7-Inch Tablet"???
A strategy focusing on Windows 8 may work. A strategy focusing on enterprise business may work. A strategy focusing on windows 8 as enterprise software is doomed to failure. No company I know of is planning to use Windows 8 on their desk terminals. Ever. It's Windows Vista all over again for business use. That being said, I've heard some good out of touch devices and Windows 8. That is where their focus with windows 8 needs to be, or they are going to continue to tank.
Supporting Linux *is* supporting the enterprise market. No way Dell is backing off that.
I think they may be backing of Android partly as a response to Google announcing they are dropping Exchange integration. Though that could be a coincidence.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Their business support doesn't suck though. If you're an enterprise-level customer and have your IT staff certified through Dell's online coursework then you can do all of your warranty work in-house and they generally next-day parts to you, and they really don't make a big deal of misdiagnosed machines where you end up replacing perfectly good parts. We use mostly Optiplexes and Latitudes and keeping up with about 30,000 PCs has been possible with a paltry staff.
Personally I'm typing this on a several-year-old Lenovo Ideapad S10-2, my wife uses a Thinkpad X301, and Dad bought an Ideapad G550 based on our recommendations, so I like old-IBM/Lenovo fairly well, but I don't think that Dell is quite as bad overall as you've dealt with. I'm using an old Latitude D520 at work in the field without problems, and my Optiplex 780 workstation has handled its duties without problems.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Yeah, but stopping it is like fighting the tide...
Touchscreen-enabled Chromebooks could change all that in 2013 though.
I think I saw an ad for one once in one of those Southwest Airlines in-flight magazines. Certainly not Dell's bread-and-butter business though.
They make some excellent monitors (the IPS panels in particular) and I have a 2yo Vostro14" that I got for a good price and is still going strong.
It's all going BYOD. As much as I hate it, its all going BYOD. Bad move, Dell.
I really doubt that, a few high-profile incidents where BYOD caused big losses and that idea will die a quick death, not that it was ever alive in many lines of business. The better question is what's the difference between a consumer and enterprise computers, except software? Nothing. My employer-issued smart phone is a regular Android phone, they've just set it up with policies like wiping itself if you enter the PIN incorrectly a few times. There's also a use agreement which says I can't let anyone else gain knowledge of the PIN or operate it - no letting your kids play on it folks - and I'm bearing the full risk of what any non-IT approved application could do to their data. It's a pretty safe bet I won't be installing any.
I'll be a cold day in hell before they go BYOD on terms that I could accept as well, doesn't even matter if we both pick the same model I'm going to have mine and theirs. But it's a pretty good chance that theirs is going to be a consumer model that I pick. I've heard much the same story with tablets, people like and want to use it but when it comes to putting business critical data on it the requirements often crash and they start looking at corporate issued tablets instead. There'll be less "You can have any color phone you want, as long as it's black" standard issue but it's always going to be trouble for one piece of hardware to have two masters.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Bye Bye DELL, greetings to Nokia when you meet them at the bottom.
Dell walks into a cheese shop, looks around poking and sniffing and suddenly a clerk (who looks vaguely like John Cleese) pops up from behind the counter!
Clerk: May I help you, Sir?
Dell: Why yes, I'd like some cheese!
Clerk: We have a lovely Apple Brie here, smooth, creamy, the customers can't seem to get enough?...
Dell: Arrghhh, No, Thank you.
Clerk: Perhaps a nice sharp Android Cheddar? Its full bodied, not as smooth as the Brie, but technically fuller?...
Dell: No, I don't want any lousy Android.
Clerk: Well then Sir, what did you have in mind?...
Dell: I'd like a great big fat slab of the Microsoft Limburger!!!
Clerk: Sir, I haven't sold any Microsoft in a fortnight, are you sure you wouldn't want something a wee bit fresher?
Dell: No, My minds made up, I want the Microsoft, and bowl of raw garlic cloves and I'll eat it here!
Clerk: Are you daft! You're going to die of indigestion and your head'll explode! Then I'll have to call a hazardous waste team to have you remains removed from the premises!
Dell: What could go wrong? As long as I finish off with a Wafer Thin Mint, I'll be fine, by the way, have you ever sold parrots?
The better question is what's the difference between a consumer and enterprise computers, except software? Nothing. My employer-issued smart phone is a regular Android phone, they've just set it up with policies like wiping itself if you enter the PIN incorrectly a few times. There's also a use agreement which says I can't let anyone else gain knowledge of the PIN or operate it - no letting your kids play on it folks - and I'm bearing the full risk of what any non-IT approved application could do to their data. It's a pretty safe bet I won't be installing any.
Actually, most smart phones are handled like enterprise models of computer systems, where the model doesn't change during its life cycle. If you buy a Galaxy III when it first came out or a year later, it is still the same hardware. Likewise, with business or enterprise computers, the manufacturer normally guarantees that each model off the line has the same hardware and component specs. On the other hand, consumer grade computers, even if they are the same model number very often have different components and component specs.
Deploying 1000 business class computers over 18 months is relatively straight forward. Once you get one set up and working as desired, you just create a base image and apply it to each one after that. On the otherhand, consumer grade need to each be set up manually as they very often require different drivers, etc., even if they arrived in the same shipment. In a small office, it doesn't make much difference, but in a medium size to large size business, it makes a huge difference.
In other words, Microsoft made Dell another offer they couldn't refuse by not shipping other operating systems. It's not the first time, but with the public's acceptance of Windows 8, it could be the last.
Posting as AC because I used to work for them...
I remember being on a conference call and someone asked why Dell didn't focus more on the consumer market, in light of the success of the iPhone, etc. It was clear to me from the answer that Dell doesn't take the consumer market that seriously. They see the enterprise market as being much larger and more lucrative, much like Microsoft does. So Dell will always have a presence in the consumer market, just to say that it has some offerings, but they have no intentions of trying to make a big splash there. Basically they will do whatever Microsoft tells them to do. During my time there it was the beginnings of a big push into the enterprise services market. I don't think they have made much of a dent personally but they will continue to pursue that. Tablets and phones are just a hobby for Dell...no news here.
HP is going down if rumors are correct that shareholder activist and raider iKahn is making his moves on shutting down HP and sellings its assets.
After that Dell will be the sole and only player left. People laugh at Dell but I would not be surprised if their share price goes up once HP is down. No one else who buys over 10 units buy from anyone else.
http://saveie6.com/
When we see these Microsoft stories it's really heartwarming to see proponents of one business division pushing the others under the bus - ensuring their counterparts will respond in kind.
It reminds us that Microsoft is a dozen warlords more at war with each other than with us.
While they seek dominance over each other we might have progress.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
At church, repenting. It is sunday after all.
Tomorrow is another day...
Keep in mind that Dell is one of the few "mainstream" PC manufacturers that will sell you a top-line laptop with a Linux distro preinstalled and supported:
http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/xps-13-linux/pd.aspx
So why stop selling Android devices (most popular mobile OS) and move to a platform that many don't think will go anywhere? Dell isn't known for Android; they're a trusted name in Windows machines. I've never seen a Dell Android phone or tablet in the wild. There's a good reason for that. Personally I think their Windows 8 devices will flop too, but they'll probably sell more of them than they do Android devices.
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
I think the Android market share issue is overblown. Most of those devices aren't the quality of product that any American company would sell: they're low end Chinese 2.3 phones. More important, is Dell doesn't have a lot of credibility in the Android space. The fact that Android is popular doesn't mean anything for Dell's bottom line if they can't move the devices. Dell, Samsung, HTC, etc aren't in existence to fight the good fight and help Android rule the world. Their purpose is to profit for their shareholders. I think Dell realizes it's best to be a big fish in a small pond than an underfed fish in an ocean filled with whales like Samsung. And even though the Windows pond is small for mobile, Dell is a big fish in the other Windows pond, and they've had tons of success shipping those devices, for a long freaking time.
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
"nice".... what planet are you from?
Good luck with that. Don't forget to turn out the lights before the building gets reposessed.
if you buy microsoft software you may as well buy dell hardware... if you really care about quality, flexibility, security, uptime, scalability, etc you would avoid both like the plaugues they are, but unfortunately ubiquity rules in most companies... if you rock the boat too much, you're dead in the water
Actually, now there's an easy answer: "Sure you can BYOD, as long as the D runs Windows 8, Windows RT, or Windows Phone."
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
Microsoft in the correct way, they'll send lots of that money your way.
Begging for money of a corporation...that is any corporation works out badly. Microsoft are simply not going to do anything for free. Dell may have *negotiated* something [exclusivity] with Microsoft behind closed doors. Personally I see any strategy involving continued exclusivity to Microsoft will fail...ask Sony :)
Oh!
You guys were SERIOUS?
Really truly and for-sure?
Windows 8?
Noshitiswear?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
We found a good way to solve that at my workplace.
Sheet-metal building facade. Wire mesh structure for interior panels. Like working in a faraday cage.
You want to BYOD? Well, you're not getting a mobile connection, and you're not getting on our network without begging before the judgemental gods of the IT team.
Lets use the correct term *Dependant* on Microsoft. Dell like all the OEM's is in the position of having only one supplier for its OS, and that makes it very weak, even more so as its only successful products rely exclusively on it. Where it is is very *safe*. Its just weird watching on the outside seeing this massive computing revolution, and a company *choosing* to remain Microsoft's bitch, even when Microsoft are working towards obsoleting them with their own products.
Best thread today :-)
People laugh at Dell but I would not be surprised if their share price goes up once HP
I care little for both companies, but ignoring the fact that Dell shares are sliding *today* and HP shares are up. As an outsider I see HP trying to evolve as a company, and Dell being stagnant , while the world changes [Mobile as a growth market, Microsoft evolving into a Hardware company and losing against the 'Pack of Four']. I prefer HP's strategy, not their poor implementation, but I think doing less than nothing is a recipe for failure. Although you can see companies like Asus and Sony doing nicely simply by throwing Android into the mix...the opposite of what Dell has done.
Do your employees enjoy not being able to receive personal phone calls at work?
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
I think the Android market share issue is overblown
Its that kind of thinking that has got Apple a shrinking market share 23% to 15% [Its shareholders have started to notice :)]...while Android is looking to Overtake Windows as early as next year.
As for your opinion on Chinese Phones seriously you have no idea, Lets have a little look at the best-selling Chinese http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.cn%2F%25E6%2589%258B%25E6%259C%25BA-%25E9%2580%259A%25E8%25AE%25AF%2Fb%2Fref%3Dsd_allcat_wi_%2F476-1550042-9753562%3Fie%3DUTF8%26node%3D664978051 Look at the most popular android phone its quad core [1.4Ghz]with 2Gb or RAM 4.5" screen [1280x720] resolution running latest Android...you need to revise you thinking, as do Apples product lines ;)
Windows 8 market has way more options than Android. Look, mobile computing is moving from this bullshit app centric nonsense to "computer in my hand". Win 8 delivers. Android does not. Now I am liberated from software limited vendor devices, I have an OS that challenges hardware vendors to accommodate full featured hardware for mobile computing functionality that parallels desktop. Stop whining about it, it is the future. I was meant to have a tiny computer in my hands. I was not meant to have a half functional software crippled computer that only works when I submit to a data plan and buy apps for every task I would want the device to do. and HTML5+JS ? Sounds like someone in Redmond realized every app you use is just a shitty rendition of something that should be browser accessible, i.e. virtually free to the end user. How anyone can be opposed to this notion is beyond me....
One could say the same about Windows, but it doesn't seem to have hampered the use of Windows.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
"it really *whips* .. the llama's arse." No kicking involved, I'm so sorry.
Dell makes phones and tablets??
Do your employees enjoy not being able to receive personal phone calls at work?
If it's important, they can receive a call via the switchboard. If it's not important, it can wait until they leave work, or go to lunch. It's reasonable for an employer to use protection when engaging in information exchange.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Just for completeness, here's also a YouTube link to the Winamp whips llama jingle.
I'm not sure how your two point relates to mine "Dell willingly!? under Microsofts Heal" but to address them.
Dells success [and I am happy to correct it] was all about "Supply chain management" with its pick your consumer parts. Dell always had competition [as does every healthy market] pretending that ODMs have any kind of advantage is kind of missing Dells business model. Dell were never innovative, cutting edge, first movers.
As for your whole consumer vs business; electronics vs General purpose computer argument. It simply doesn't add up [and ironically contradicts your ODM argument]. Customers are choosing Android because its pretty good on affordable devices. The fact that its free [patent problems aside] and customisable obviously adds to the appeal, but its the fact that Companies are making *money* because of *Demand* that is why they are choosing it.
Microsoft destroyed many companies through partnerships and allegiances, and Ink may have been used behind closed doors, but the harsh reality is Dell has made a strategic business decision to become an end-to-end service provider [whatever you think of that], and is simply doing that on Microsoft's Platform.
Dell is just another vendor that thinks MS will pull them all back up with them into a new Windows monopoly world, this time on PC, tablet and phone.
Maybe will happen, seems not so likely this time....
These guys just can't see anyway that MS could lose in a market they enter, just like they have never lost for almost the last 30 years.
Others in this delusion would be Nokia and former HP management (ditching their own better tablet OS).
Well I'm no expert, but both CNBC and Bloomberg agree the at lot of the recent drop in Apples stock price i sou to investors worrying over a rather large hike in "Capital gains" taxes if the Fiscal cliff hits, the want to get there gains reported before that point (well who really wants to bay more tax then they have to?).
So my uneducated guess is that Apples stock price well see a nice little rise in the beginning of 2013
Its off-topic, and you need to pay more attention. The only thing certain about Apples three month drop in share value is there is no one reason. The fact is its strategy of perusing profits over market share is now failing. I suspect there will be a topic on this soon to properly discuss it.
But my points were more companies so not exist for the benefits of shareholders interest....I could have picked RIM or Nokia as an example. Whose share prices are going up!!!
2013 is going to be the year of Chrome on the Desktop!
Sorry, couldn't help...
2013 is going to be the year Android overtakes Windows in Marketshare.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I was only days away from giving up on this site and never coming back, but this post has restored my faith in Slashdot's ability to keep me entertained. Bravo Sir!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Dell like all the OEM's is in the position of having only one supplier for its OS
To my left is a Dell machine running Ubuntu. If Dell broke with Canonical as a secondary operating system supplier, Dell put itself in that position.
That was the only reason I liked WinAmp. WinAmp kicked the llama's ass. When it stopped kicking the llama's ass, I stopped using it. Get in line for your asskicking, little llama!
Hey waitaminute! When did it STOP whipping/kicking the llama's ass? I still use winamp, quite simply, because I haven't found anything that works better
These days, I'm on Linux, and I use VLC media player for everything. VLC is also available for Windows, and I've met some Windows users who love it just as much as I do. WinAmp stopped whipping the Llama's ass about the time that - uhhh - was it AOL who bought it from the developer? Or Yahoo? Someone bought it, paid the developer to continue developing, but put restrictions on him. No whipping the llama's ass, for one thing.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I'll have to check when I get home, but I believe they removed the "no whipping" restrictions :)
Dell should just shut down the company and sell the stock back to shareholders
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html
You know, the PC market has an incredibly low barrier to entry. If the big players get out, the space will be full again in... How long does it take to open a business in your country?
Rethinking email
Do your employees enjoy not being able to receive personal phone calls at work?
Yeah, because nobody has a phone on the desk. Also: How on Earth did you survive
in pre-mobile-phone times?
All I need to know about RMS is that he looks like a fat hobo who eats his own toe jam. It is impossible to respect anyone like that.
Steve Jobs had to work nights because his fellow workers complained about his smell; Bill Gates rocks like a crazy person while he lies under oath. Linus Torvalds potty mouth is in evident everywhere. I've just focused snapshots on the stars although I have skipped over most of the drug use; racism; bullying; witches and murder. If the best you can do is an unsavoury habit he is in good company. The fact that he has achieved more than you, I and most people should be humbling. The fact that your trolling threads with character assassination while he has started a movement; been lead programmer *personally* on great projects like gcc. kind of shows who you are. :)
Complete non-sequitur. How does anything you wrote refute what the GP wrote?
Don't think you know what a non-sequitur(sic) is. My response was simply stating that he didn't understand what stallman wants, because the AC was implying that Stallman wants the end of these computer and content industries. He doesn't, he wants his definition of free software [although covers DRM; privacy and other topics] for computer users. He advocates change. Even if I was completely wrong its not a Non sequitur because true or false my argument is directly related to his comment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur_(logic).
Their market wants windows, so they cater to the market.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
'HP is going down if rumors are correct' has been said for the last 20 years that I've been paying attention.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
For the cheapskate/n00b_uncle/websurfer, you can get a low end laptop for $300. Same machine with Windows, an extra $70.
http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/laptops.aspx?c=us&cs=ussoho1&l=en&s=soho&~ck=mn#!facets=53996~0~839326&p=1
And it even comes with a tape drive, according to the spec sheet!
I guess "dude, you got a Dell" has to change into "manager, you got a Dell" instead then.