Dell blames Windows 8 for poor PC sales
Dell has laid the blame for poor PC sales at the door of Windows 8, citing the uncertain adoption of Microsoft's operating system as a factor for declining revenue.
The PC-maker announced another quarter of declining profits, with the company's PC division posting a 9% sales drop to US$8.9 billion from last year.
Recording a quarterly profit of $130 million, the figures were a whopping 79% down from the $635 million during the same period last year, with CFC Brian Gladden citing Windows 8 as one of the reasons.
Speaking with Wall Street analysts last week, Gladden said: "Windows 8 has been, from our standpoint, not necessarily the catalyst to drive accelerated growth that we had hoped it would be."
This is not the first time a major market player has dismissed Microsoft's operating system, following reports by research firm IDC last month that buyers are seemingly move away from Microsoft’s Windows 8 PC software.
“At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market,” said Bob O’Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays, IDC last month.
Hoping sales would turnaround later in the year however, Gladden said in a statement to the press: “We made progress in building our enterprise solutions capabilities in the first quarter and are confident in our strategy to be the leading provider of end-to-end scalable solutions.
"In addition, we have taken actions to improve our competitive position in key areas of the business, especially in end-user computing, and it has affected profitability.
"We’ll also continue to make important investments to support our strategy and drive long-term profitability.”
Given the company’s announcement of a definitive merger agreement to take Dell private, Gladden said Dell would not provide an outlook for the fiscal 2014 second quarter.
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