Dell can be considered the most recent casualty of the Android tablet market which it blamed is getting increasingly overcrowded while consumer interest in the segment has also been on the wane.
Dell’s isn’t alone as HP too had announced it is done with Android tablets. Lenovo is another company that has also been seen scaling back its Android tablet venture. However, Google’s loss here can be seen to be Microsoft’s gain here as all three companies have instead expanded their presence, or are in the process of doing so in the two-in-one device segment that currently is dominated by Windows.
“We are seeing 2-in-1s rising in popularity since they provide a more optimal blend of PC capabilities with tablet mobility,” a Dell spokesperson explained in an email to PCWorld.
Coming back to Dell, the immediate impact of it exiting the Android tablet market is that its Venue range of tablets will cease to exist. That also applies to the tiny Wyse Cloud Connect computing device that transforms a display into a PC. The company though said they will be respecting any warranty obligations that might still be in force but no future software updates will be made available.
The company had long terminated its Venue series of Android smartphones. That was in 2012 and the same is now being meted out to the Venue tablet range. In between, Dell had briefly dabbled with Latitude branded tablets running Windows though none of them could make a mark.
Interestingly, Dell has been the first to launch a tablet featuring a 5-inch display. That was the Dell Streak 5 and was in response to Apple launching the first gen iPad back in 2010. However, the smartphone fared poorly in the market as it was the bigger form factor of the iPad or such tablet that caught people’s fancy big time.
Several years down the line, and it seems the smartphone is back with a vengeance as 5-inch smartphones have become the norm while even larger ‘phablets’ are also being accepted. The rising popularity of both these segments is being considered to have stagnated sales of tablet devices.
With the Venue branded Android tablets gone, Dell products portfolio will comprise of laptops, All-in-ones, two-in-ones and Chromebook.
