In a serious blow to the future of
Dell's main take is that the tablet market is oversaturated, with Android devices at rock bottom prices from companies like Asus,
"Additionally, 2-in-1s with larger screens in the 10 to 13-inch range are offering a laptop-first experience with the convenience of a tablet when needed," said Kirk Schell, Dell's vice-president of commercial solutions.
However, and to the relief of existing owners of Dell Android-based Venue products, the Austin, Texas-based company will continue to support currently active warranty and service contracts until they expire, but will not be pushing out any future OS upgrades.
Tablets are no PC replacement after all, with shift to 2-in-1 devices
Dell confirmed that it is "repositioning" its mobile products portfolio to take advantage of both "the resurgence of the 2-in-1 market" and the "continued growth of the traditional form factor laptop."
"With the release of Windows 10, our 2-in-1s and laptops are positioned to take advantage of the largest growth opportunities within the personal computing space. Detachable tablets (or 2-in-1s) reached an all-time high of 8.1 million devices in the fourth quarter of 2015. They have also more than doubled their shipments since the fourth quarter of last year," added Schell.
For Schell, after a full decade since the iPad was originally introduced and predicted to completely consume the PC market, the PCs not only remain the preferred devices for real work, they’re also on the rebound and tablets will be confined, in the business world, to purpose-driven applications like point of sale payments, retail and hospitality.
"But tablet-first devices will not find widespread adoption in the business world as PC replacements. CIOs and IT administrators have to consider much more than just the word “Pro” and visual appeal of a device when deciding which products to deploy among their workforce," added Schell in a clear slap to Apple's iPad Pro line.
