Uncle M is reportedly about to splurge a mighty $3 billion on tablet and PC manufacturer Dell, in what would, if true, prove a dramatic statement of intent as regards hardware in general.
The story comes care of CNBC and its anonymous sourcery. The alleged sum would give Microsoft a controlling share of the company, thus granting it direct access to a world of tablets, phones and laptops.
The ramifications for Microsoft's console business could be no less considerable. The company has made no bones of the fact that it sees the distribution of services like Xbox Live across a range of devices (via schemes like Xbox SmartGlass) as key to future success.
Associated documents summarise the latter as: "a portable controller allows a user to access and control the network devices from any location within a controlled residential and/or non-residential environment, including its surrounding areas. The controllers are enhanced to support location-awareness and user-awareness functionality."
What do you make of it all?
11 comments so far...
Xbox11 on 24 Jan '13 said:
Dell does make some great products, Particularly screens, I like them a lot , But 3 billion dollars for a not so completely amazing electronic company sounds a bit crazy to me, What does Dell have to offer Microsoft they couldn't possibly do alone?
Sounds like someone at Dell Or should i say Microsoft just got his pockets filled.
Ring Ring!....
Ello!...
Err Dave! .....
Wat mate?....
......We aint sellin to many of them IPS Panels everyone likes , And Alienware aint doin as good as we thought, Any chance you convince the govnor you need to give us 3 billion quid by Tuesday ?
...No worries bruv!
Sandbwoy on 24 Jan '13 said:
$3billion is a hefty buyout, they must have seen huge potential to make them want to spend that much. Only time will tell exactly what will come of this.
CunningSmile on 25 Jan '13 said:
Don't forget MS paid $8.5billion for Skype, a company that had never made a profit, so by comparisson $3b for Dell seems like a steal.
Makes sense to me. MS obviously want to start competing with Apple more, which means moving into hardware and MS has never set up divisions if they could buy a company that already does it. My only question has always been who they would buy and now we know.
Captain_Chao5 on 25 Jan '13 said:
M$ bought skype? I bet they'll put that on Xbox soon
Xbox11 on 25 Jan '13 said:
Yes indeed it is , Very interested to see what will come of it.
Xbox11 on 25 Jan '13 said:
I didn't know they paid that much for Skype , That's mental , But the thing is Dell doesn't actually own any hardware AFAIK ? All they do is assemble other companies products and stick a label on it
Judging by this even though its old news , I would say that Dell isn't in the best position to say its worthy of being bought out for that money
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/doo ... ts-demise/
http://www.mobilenapps.com/articles/385 ... inting.htm
CunningSmile on 25 Jan '13 said:
Hadn't realised things were so bad for Dell. Despite that though they do still have good name recognition, and with MS calling the shots I think they can probably turn themselves around. From those articles their biggest problem seems to be lack of direction in the changing market place, and lack of a plan is certainly something MS are rarely guilty of.
And you aren't the only person who thinks that price for Skype was mental. The Financial Times said pretty much the same (they used bigger words, but then they have REALLY big pages to fill up)
Xbox11 on 25 Jan '13 said:
They do have a good name yes, A lot of people respect Dell and their products, Including me.
And Skype Lol yeh, Ive been reading about it , Apparently Cisco isn't too happy about it , Seeing as they wanted to run all video calling tech in the world at one time, I think its more of a case of they hadn't moved on with the times and are sick about the fact Skype just took over. I think it will be good to see Skype in the next Xbox, Being able to call straight to a mobile phone for free is really cool.
CunningSmile on 25 Jan '13 said:
I think if the new Xbox comes with Skype and a decent built in Kinect we could be looking at video phones actually becoming common place. Now all I need is a hover board and a fax machine in every room and Back to the Future will be right
Xbox11 on 25 Jan '13 said:
MCFRY!!!! I WAS MONITORING THAT CALL YOU ARE FIRED!!!
Haha , I always wanted a hoverboard, Those Auto lace up Nike's were the nuts too, I d like a pair of those please lol
FishyGinger on 25 Jan '13 said:
And yet you don't want a delorean. You sir are most certainly a mind boggle.