Dell has decided to stop producing consumer netbooks. Netbooks got crazy popular some years back with Asus EEE PC taking off and cheap, small computer concept selling in millions. Many loved the portability, while others took it as their first computer. Netbooks cannibalized PC / Notebook sales and sales staff were actually educated to tell consumers what a netbook can do and what are the idea use cases for a netbook.
Personally I find netbooks too small for regular usage, ergonomically a disaster and even playing a decent movie clip on it can be a pain. Compared that to something like the iPad and it works so much better. But the point here is that Dell is retiring from a market segment. No official reasons cited, but the writing is on the wall. Tablets affect is real, iPad is what a netbook should have been, a travel computer, a content consumption device and something that people can easily distinguish from a regular computer. One size doesn’t fit all purpose!
The reasons for Dell might not be close to consumer demand, though. It is everything to do with profitability. Dell commented to The Verge that it is thin and powerful all the way for them and what they sure omitted was the fact was the price point. Apple is accused of selling premium products and Steve Jobs once defended that they aren’t premium, rather the case is that Apple doesn’t like to strip down usability and performance just to sell cheaper products (at low margin).
Dell now realises that it was spreading to thin trying to compete everywhere. They opted out of mobiles sometime back and their ‘Streak’ line of tablets haven’t seen great sales either. The indication is clear, pushing out numerous products, at razor thin margins isn’t their cup of tea. In short, not everyone can do a Samsung. What Samsung does and doesn’t is perhaps a topic of different debate, but Dell just proves to us why Apple is the most valuable company in the world and it might well remain so for a while.