This weeks headlines has been about Dell departing from Wall Street and becoming a private company under the leadership of Mr. Michael Dell . " Dell to go private in landmark $24.4 billion deal"
Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/05/us-dell-buyout-idUSBRE9140NF20130205
We also see Microsoft helping Dell with this buyout which has caused speculation of a merger of Microsoft and Dell. " Microsoft and Dell what the buyout means for them " runs another headline lauding the synergies .
Source: http://www.firstpost.com/tech/microsoft-and-dell-what-the-buyout-means-for-them-615566.html
In the past Microsoft and Dell had a great partnership for 25 years, Microsoft provided the software solutions and Dell did the desktop
But then came along two disruptive technologies the Mobile and Cloud Computing, the world of desktops and desktop software started to shrink. The partnership struggled to keep the Microsoft desktop and the Dell PC alive and relevant, but the writing on the wall was clear, there was no future in desktops.
Dell has seen the writing on the wall, cloud computing and mobility is the future!
Dell has seen the writing on the wall, cloud computing and mobility is the future!
Dell has the best Supply Chain Management for hardware manufacturing, Microsoft has the best supply chain for software, the only contender who combined both was Apple, but Apple is slowly rotting due to the demise of Steve Jobs.
Microsoft has failed at capturing the imagination for its tablets and other devices which it has tried to market, at the heart of Microsoft mobile strategy is the mobile phone and its Windows 8, but it is dependent on mobile makers like HTC, Samsung and Nokia.
Windows 8 for the mobile is good today, but Microsoft could not let go its desktop genes; so it decided to thrust Windows 8 on the desktops of its loyal subjects desktops and all hell broke lose, you cannot use a software made for a mobile with a touchscreen on a laptop, and Microsoft's market share numbers reflect this blunder.
Microsoft struggles to get market share for Azure as cloud computing solution; pushing desktop software to customers who are prisoners is different from selling an utility like cloud, Microsoft is still at the start line of this race and figuring on how to sell an utility in a non-proprietary world driving by open source software.
But Microsoft is a juggernaut with huge Cash Reserves, it has got stamina and the money, it does not want to go the Digital, Nortel, Tandem , Motorola way, it wants to be relevant forever.
So here comes Michael Dell a visionary and maverick strategist who sees that the desktop era has ended and it is time to move to an ecosystem that binds his customers to Dell, He sees how Apple has made its customer's fanatical, he understands that every fanatical following has a cycle of life, just like Lotus Notes many year ago and Blackberry more recently.
Michael Dell and his team understand that computing is destined to be an utility and has reached an inflection point like electricity did about hundred years ago to become a commodity, today electricity is traded in Power Exchanges.
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No one knows commodity markets and customization better then Dell who changed the rules of the desktop, Dell have the strategy, vision and ability to sell an utility called cloud computing.
Dell understands how Apple has bound its customers to the Apple religion.
Dell will do the same but to a different market segment, the one that buys Dell desktops and laptops and cannot afford the Apple ecosystem.
The end point devices - mobility devices will be made by Dell, Dell will also own the applications in these devices and the cloud computing which allow them to work seamlessly from anywhere at anytime; Dell knows that Microsoft has the cloud and the end point solutions, what is missing is hardware an area which no one knows better then Dell.
Dell will not buy HTC or Nokia to fill this technology gap rather it will hire teams from these successful companies and maybe in the interim licence technology from Microsoft.
Time to market and competitive price points and distribution will be a breeze for Dell since it is a proven leader on cost optimization and real time supply chain better then anyone else in the computing world in this planet.
Execution and Time to market is key for Dell; with energy conserved from not dancing to Wall Street's tunes Dell can now focus on its core competence of making its large customer base happy by providing affordable computing which today only the rich can afford in its Apple Devices and is not met by the Google ecosystem.
Dell will change the world with this approach and the carriers will have to again go back to selling bandwidth rather then holding mobile device manufacturers to ransom. The internet bandwidth is a commodity today and all that Dell needs is to buy a telecom carrier and they have all the pieces together and Dell can waltz to the bank and has no need to share its spoils with Wall Street.
Could Dell be the Knight in Shining Armor for Microsoft ?
This blog is posted from a Dell Inspiron with a Windows 8 operating system.
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