Dell`s Desktop Dilemma (
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These are tough times for desktops and Dell seems to know it.
When Dell announced earlier this week that it would close its Austin, Texas, desktop manufacturing facility
as part of a sweeping, corporate-wide cost saving venture—the closing
will affect about 900 jobs at the plant—it also signaled that the
company knows its once profitable desktop market will continue to
shrink.
The fact that notebooks, in terms of both revenue and shipments, are
outstripping desktops is now an established trend. However, unlike some
of its competition, Dell clung to the desktop as a major revenue
source, even after companies like Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Lenovo
switched their emphasis to manufacturing more laptops.
To read more about the closing of the Austin facility, click here.
Dell has also been willing to continue manufacturing some of its
desktops within the United States, while other vendors have sent most
of that work overseas.
A recent report from IDC found that, while the overall PC market could grow about 12 percent in 2008, desktops
will only experience single-digit growth in terms of shipments. In the
United States, desktop shipments are expected to decrease more than 4
percent this year.
Did Dell Miss Notebooks?
Desktops remain an essential part of Dell's business. During its
2008 fiscal year, the company recorded more than $19 billion in revenue
from desktop sales, although that was a 9 percent drop from when it
reported more than $21 billion in sales during 2006. At the same time,
notebook revenue increased by 18 percent.
"We will likely see rising user demand for mobility products in the
foreseeable future that will contribute to a slowing demand for desktop
PCs as mobility growth is expected to outpace desktop growth at a rate
of approximately six-to-one," according to Dell's annual report, which
it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31.
Roger Kay, with Endpoint Technologies Associates, is one analyst who
believes Dell held onto its old desktop model for too long as other
companies jumped to laptops and other mobile devices.
Desktops and Notebooks News & Reviews 
