Big companies, big decisions, even bigger risks! And companies rarely come bigger than Dell and Microsoft. But their reported new partnership is starting to turn some heads, even though an official announcement is expected sometimes this week.
We already covered in detail how Microsoft plans to help Dell go private by providing funding. While industry insiders are pointing a stronger collaboration between the companies if the deal goes through, particularly as far as Windows is concerned, other Microsoft partners are not much impressed.
According to Bloomberg, the Redmond company could stand risking further tensions with its partners who would feel that Dell may get early look at software developed by the software giant or insights into Redmond’s marketing plans and product strategies.
As Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at market research firm Gartner noted:
“If you’re a vendor that wasn’t happy with Surface, the idea of Microsoft owning part of Dell is not going to cheer you up. But if you’re Microsoft and you feel you need to do more devices, and that hardware and software need to be more integrated, the ability to have major influence on a big PC vendor opens some interesting opportunities.”
Microsoft was already criticized by hardware vendors leading up to the release of the Surface tablet, with several companies, Acer in particular, saying Microsoft could potentially kill the whole ecosystem.
Nevertheless, if the deal goes through, it could come in real handy for Microsoft and its future development in the hardware realm. We will know soon enough, it seems.
But in a world where consumers are increasingly leaning towards smartphones and tablets, Microsoft’s speculated arrangement could hold quite some significance.
