Dell and Intel are right: the computer is far from ‘dead’

Here are some words you probably won’t hear often from me: I agree with Dell. Let me explain.

In February 2011, Dell and Intel commissioned Forrester Consulting to leverage its Forrsights Workforce Employee survey along with supplemental customer survey analysis to determine IT decision-makers’ adoption plans for tablets in the enterprise. Forrester discovered that notebooks, desktops and smartphones were found to be “must-have” devices, while tablets, slates, and netbooks were “nice-to-have” technologies.

The study says tablets can bring new benefits to a work environment, such as increased productivity, flexibility and mobility, but they also bring with them security and management challenges. They can replace paper-based systems and introduce new productivity places, but this only makes them a companion device, not a replacement for existing computers, according to the study, which is a position I’ve espoused for a long time.

In the Virtual Era, where we’re starting to see the blurring of the lines between personal and professional, it’s evident that tablets continue to enter the workplace, says Dell. In fact in industries such as healthcare, retail or hospitality, tablets are opening new doors for opportunity. For instance, they can save doctors and nurses’ time and resources as they update a patient’s records in real time. Or a manufacturer can easily walk around the manufacturing plant, getting up-to-the-minute stats regarding its supply chain.

However, in a market where strategies are constantly evolving, in an ecosystem that has yet to mature, Dell says the one thing we can bet on is this: the computer isn’t dead.

Backing up this statement is Intel, which posted record financial results on Tuesday while casting doubts on the argument that tablets are going to kill the personal computer. CEO Paul Otellini defended the traditional computer and challenged analyst groups like Gartner and IDC on their claims of tablets cannibalizing computer sales.

Otellini says third party researchers often didn’t account for sales from developing countries. A greater number of generic computers and individual component sales make it harder to track sales than in wealthier nations, where more computers sell from major brands.

— Dennis Sellers