This comment to the article is what really hit home for me. This is exactly where small business ERP is now. A ""Race to The Bottom""
@Hans Pedersen: ""Dell are focusing on Enterprise. That is not a shrinking sector. ""
Really? Don't ask RIM. Don't ask Microsoft. Ever hear of ""Bring Your Own Device"" BYOD?
The ""enterprise"" market is indeed shrinking. New licensing revenue is down, PC sales are down. Software vendors are scrambling to shore up their revenue by focusing on maintenance.
""Services has long been the fastest growing business in the industrialised world, and services need Enterprise IT. ""
Services are the only growing business in IT today.
""That's why IBM abandoned PC's and why HP almost did the same""
IBM abandoned PC's because it's a zero sum game a race to the bottom. They correctly identified the market as collapsing and got out. HP's previous CEO, Mark Hurd correctly identified the transition to Mobile and also the value of owning the entire stack like Apple does with the iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately for HP and their shareholders, Mark Hurd was forced out, a ""software only"" guy took over and managed to not only squander whatever advantage HP could have had with WebOS, but submarine what little value there was in HP hardware. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot with both barrels then reloading and blowing your other foot off. Totally stupid and yes, I'm still ticked at HP for squandering WebOS. Microsoft just needs to buy Nokia, ""zune"" the rest of the Windows Mobile manufacturers that are still focusing on Android more than Windows Mobile, and move on.
""PC's will still be necessary""
Yup, but they will no longer be in the majority role that they traditionally have been. It's quite clear that we are indeed in a post-PC era. Notice how steep the curve is on the iPad vs. the iPhone in the chart above our posts? It's no fluke or accident
""but the companies selling them are changing to new more specialised companies like Lenovo. ""
Really? I'm not sure how to even respond to this. How is Lenovo different from Dell or HP exactly? Aside from having a worse web site? Mind you, my work computer is a ThinkPad T400s so I have nothing against Lenovo but your premise is puzzling to say the least and there is nothing special in Lenovo over just being a common hardware vendor.
""This because PC's and servers are often handled by completely separate IT departments on companies today.""
Stupid companies, maybe. I know of no major company or government entity that has separate IT departments. Most companies are struggling to consolidate their management of their hardware and software and thus gain economies of scale through IT Asset Management (ITAM).