Dell Struggles to Stay in Third Place

Dell (NYSE: DELL) has held the number two spot in the world’s PC market share ranks for years. It has been just behind Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), which is still trying to decide what to do with its PC division. Dell’s days in second place are ending, though, and that raises the question of whether it can even hold the third spot. Lenovo, of China, has overrun Dell to settle in behind HP.

Gartner and International Data announced that in the third quarter HP had 17.7% of the global market. Lenovo had 13.5% to Dell’s 11.6%. Acer followed with 10.6%, although its share fell from the third quarter of last year.

Michael Dell said he does not mind the third place position. He is whistling past the graveyard. His profit margins may be better than Lenovo’s now, but that will not matter at some point if his market share drops too low.

The PC business has become a struggle among companies that build machines that are losing their relevance. Tablets and smartphones are replacing the laptop and desktop, as mobile processors and connection speeds increase. Dell has no position in these markets and there are no signs that it will.

Dell is now the third place company in any industry that has lost its way.

Douglas A. McIntyre