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In the days since I started playing around with computers as a kid, a lot has changed. We have gone from measuring CPU performance in MHZ to GHZ, and gone from single cores to dual and quad core computers being common place in the phones we have in our pockets. PC’s and our ability to customize computers in the early 00’s is what got me excited about computers. The possibilities of how you could configure a computer were literally endless. But times have changed, and where people want their choice has changed. Most consumers are looking for portability and something that looks nice. Most devices that come out are fast enough to do everything we need, so people mainly want a device that has the battery power to be used all day. These facts that the PC consumer industry has changed from a primarily desktop, to largely mobile device market is a huge shift. It has also left a lot of PC giants such as Dell, HP, and even software giant Microsoft wondering how they fell, or are about to fall, from their number one spots.
A lot of the problem the traditional PC market is facing is that they lack innovation. Outside of the inevitably faster parts, manufacturers have not made an effort to make PC’s more attractive than their new counterparts such as smartphones and tablets. We are now slowly starting to see innovation slowly pop up in from PC manufacturers as the realize they need to change their game plans to compete against companies like Samsung and Apple who seem to now dominate consumer PC’s like never before. With most tablets and smartphones being sold seemingly coming from Apple or Samsung, it’s about time we heard an answer from the likes of HP and Dell.
So how are traditional PC makers answering to the rise of tablets and smartphones? One of the primary ways we are seeing innovation is convertible laptops. Companies like HP, Dell, and Lenovo are innovating laptops by trying to combine the better of two worlds. With many of these laptops we are seeing the high power and full keyboards that come with many laptops, and the increased portability and ease of use of many tablets. Many of these laptops perform well and have great screens to boot. Best of all? Although we naturally see an increase in the price of the products, the do not appear to be unjustified price hike. If you look around at Futureshop or Best Buy typically consumers are paying an extra $150-$250 for convertible laptops, which is less than buying a laptop and tablet separately. Is it working? Apparently so, according to this article, Lenovo increased sales substantially in the full 2013/2014 year that ended March 31st. If you go through the article, it appears devices like the convertible laptops are a huge hit, with Lenovo breaking records selling these devices. This is a great sign, as we see companies like HP come out with devices like this as well.
Many traditional PC companies are trying their best to come up with new ideas to inspire consumers, and although we have not seen nearly enough innovation in the last decade, according to this article, we are seeing a slowdown in the shipment of smartphones and tablets as well. What does this mean? For one it means that we have started to hit a saturation point in the smart phone and tablet sectors as well. This should be a moment of relief for traditional PC companies, as it gives them a minute to use their treasure chests to truly innovate and reinvent the pc market. The big question is how are they going to do this? It is unlikely we are going to see the GHZ races again anytime soon, but we will see a features race. It is shown to us time and time again, that if companies give consumers better features, they are more likely to buy your products. What PC makers need to do is get creative with how they pack features into their desktops and laptops. Convertible laptops are the perfect example in how innovation of features sells to consumers.
Where is the PC industry heading? It is hard to say, but not likely a continuation into a world of smaller and smaller devices. We have even seen companies like Apple come out with larger iPhones in order to compete with their competitors in the smartphone sector. Given the lull we have seen in the PC industry, and the lessons companies should have learned from the race to smaller, feature packed devices, we are likely about to enter an era of incredible innovation and turnaround from companies such as Dell and Lenovo.
According to an article I read a few weeks ago, Dell has seen incredible growth since they went private last fall. One of the reasons that Michael Dell attributes this too, is that they are able to take more risks and truly innovate now that they do not have to answer to shareholders. Does this mean every company should go private? Probably not, but if Lenovo and Dell are on the right track we will be seeing great products coming out in the more traditional PC market as PC vendors return to former glories.
uDream Digital 