Dell was once the envy of the consumer tech industry, but its days sales growth are long past. The PC maker saw its profitability drop sharply as sales tumbled 11% to $13.7 billion in the quarter that just ended -- even further than analysts expected.
These should be good times for Microsoft. It's going on the offensive ahead of the holiday shopping season, with new PCs, tablets with Windows 8, and smartphones running Windows Phone 8. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the buzz just isn't there.
Computer users are starting to think outside of the box, and that's bad news for Dell and Hewlett-Packard. The two PC giants will be reporting this week -- Dell on Tuesday and HP on Wednesday -- but investors aren't holding out for much.
In the past two years, Hewlett-Packard's world has turned upside-down, thanks to CEO woes, costly acquisitions and a doomed attempt to revive webOS. All those problems cost the tech giant 58% of its market value. But as bad as things appear now, they can always get worse.
PC makers better learn to think outside of the box: Computer sales continue to slip as companies cautiously watch their spending and consumers flock to tablets and smartphones for their basic computing needs.
Dell shares opened sharply lower on Wednesday after the PC maker posting disappointing financial results. Sales are soft, margins are contracting, and the outlook is uninspiring.
Gartner has lowered its laptop-sales forecast for this year and the next, predicting that the popularity of tablets and smartphones will slow laptop sales. Gartner expects worldwide laptop sales to increase 11% this year and and 14% next year, down from a previously forecast 16$ and 15%, respectively.
IT trends researcher Gartner cut its forecast for 2011 worldwide PC shipment growth from 18.1% to 15.9%. That's still very robust for PCs, but it's an early sign that the iPad's wild popularity is taking a toll on the rest of the computer industry.
Intel issued a third-quarter warning, saying its revenues will come in lighter than expected due to softening consumer demand for PCs. It now expects to bring in revenues of $10.8 billion to $11.2 billion, compared with its previous guidance of $11.2 billion to $12 billion.