Lenovo takes over IBM's PC business

Wise for IBM. Her strength lies in bulky servers and the related services. The competition in PC market is already bloody.

[ December 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ellen Zhao ]

News article.

There's a good link. I couldn't find one till now.
[ December 08, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

I think it may well backfire.
Many companies choose IBM because they provide a complete package, which includes PCs as well as servers, software, and consultancy.
Take any of those components out of your portfolio and you stand to loose some juicy contracts to HP.

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:

Many companies choose IBM because they provide a complete package, which includes PCs as well as servers, software, and consultancy.

But then there's nothing much left for managers to manage. I get the feeling that which platforms are best for which businesses are decided by the government(s).
[ December 09, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
Take any of those components out of your portfolio and you stand to loose some juicy contracts to HP.

Wahoo! go HP.

Originally posted by Jessica Sant:

Wahoo! go HP.

HP doesnt have Think Pad

Jeroen Wenting:

I think it may well backfire.

Many companies choose IBM because they provide a complete package, which includes PCs as well as servers, software, and consultancy.

That was my first reaction, too.

IBM is getting a big ownership share of Lenovo as part of the deal, though, so I'm not sure just how big a change this is. Lenovo will probably help IBM move downmarket in the PC business, which could help on some bids; right now, IBM's premium position in that market probably hurts them as much as it helps.

You cannot imagine how aggressive the lenovo (formerly legend) in China's pc market is...I don't think hp or dell can beat lenovo in China. But they have the passion and ambition to expand internationally. They need bigger fame and the IBM needs higher rentability.

I'm not a lenovo fan, btw. While both of my parents' office computers are lenovo (and lenovo always managed to push the upgrade of hardware almost every year, which in my opinion, is a total waste), my laptop is an acer aspire and desktop is a DIY.

Helen: I get the feeling that which platforms are best for which businesses are decided by the government(s).

Dear Helen, trust me, not really. Usually the decision makers in government have no idea what decision to make (i mean, which hardware infrastructure to purchase, which software architecture to build...). It's really an interesting rat race for the companies like IBM or HP to approach the desision makers in various ways, and the techinical issues don't count that much in the final result ...

rumour, rumour, rumour.... (from www.javaeye.com , it's a Chinese java developer's site)

rumour 1:
HP is quiting pc market too.

rumour 2:
IBM is plotting bigger movement. Who'll IBM next marry? It's said BEA, most probably. Sun or SAP

are also probabilities.

The price of the PC is already heading south. Soon they'll be giving them out free like handsets.

Originally posted by Helen Thomas:

But then there's nothing much left for managers to manage. I get the feeling that which platforms are best for which businesses are decided by the government(s).

In China maybe, not (yet?) here.
Worked for the government for a while (as a contractor, made sure I didn't become infected with their way of working).
IBM, HP, Compaq, Olivetti, Dell and some other were asked to submit package deals for a major project (1500+ workstations, 75 or so servers, 150 or so printers, network hardware, long term support contracts, manning the helpdesk, you name it).
Decision was made on cost alone, the quality of the goods and services were never even considered (we (as the project staff) recommended the offer which offered the best value for money, but as it was more expensive than the cheapest it wasn't even considered by the decision makers).

The days of governments being the only parties who can afford a complete computer system including mainframes and workstations are long gone

The network really is the computer. With free space being offered everywhere for freebies I guess PCs are getting redundant.

My e-mail's with my ISP/browser/search engine.
My photos are on Flikr and Picassa.
My plubic documents are on Blogger/Moveable Type/Word Press - soon my private documents will be held somewhere securely - more securely than on my PC
Some young whizz kid started renting out games, there's no reason why he cannot do that online.
Browser and search engines and broadband - that's all that's required.
[ December 14, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]