The PC Is Dead! Long Live the . . . Uh . . . PC! – International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Dell Inc. (DELL)

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) is another stalwart of the desktop computer, although its forte is the printer; at least, when I worked in retail the easiest printer to sell was the HP – generally high quality and a wide range of prices and capabilities.  Its computers are harder sells, although this might in part be because there are a lot of computers that compare favorably to HP’s.  Furthermore, while they have offered laptops for a long while, they are only now getting into the tablet fray, and their offerings do not inspire enthusiasm.  There have been suggestions that HP would do well to sell off some of its components, the PC business included, but this is unlikely.  Its shares have been moving upwards aggressively as of this writing.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), like Lenovo, spreads its products across the spectrum of computing devices; in many ways Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has, in fact, lead the pack in terms of stretching the computer to new realms.  Its offerings include desktops, laptops, tablets and phones, all cleverly commercially cross-cultivated by the ubiquitous “i” that precedes its product names.  Some highly touted releases last year (updates of the iPad and the iPhone) helped drive Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares to a high of $702.10 on Sept. 19, 2012, but the shine has faded to the tune of -35%, to a price of $453.62 as of this writing (Feb. 6, 2013).

That there may be some weakness in the desktop PC market can be seen in the fact that sales of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iMac were lower than expected last year; there is no doubt that the range of alternatives to the desktop is bound to take some of the market away from it.  That is to be expected.  There are only so many computers that can be sold, and only so many people that want one; and if a tablet is all a person needs, why spring for more than that?  (I’d have sold my soul for something like a tablet PC when I was in college.)

Are desktops dead or dying?  No.  Will they ever?  Not likely.

The article The PC Is Dead! Long Live the . . . Uh . . . PC! originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Joseph Porter.

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