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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!
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
Except dell is migrating into an enterprise solutions business. Their consumer product business is somewhat secondary to their business software.
"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.
Touchscreen-enabled Chromebooks could change all that in 2013 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
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?
Nokia had a hostile takeover by Microsoft, I think Dell's case is that they completely failed to enter the Android market with any sort of innovative or well marketed product. Nokia was doing just fine until they burnt their non-windows phone product lines to the ground.
moox. for a new generation.
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.
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.
"nice".... what planet are you from?
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.
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.
"it really *whips* .. the llama's arse." No kicking involved, I'm so sorry.