Dell gets out of the Android business, and everything old is new again

Company will stop updating Android tablets and focus on 2-in-1 Windows PCs.

by Andrew Cunningham

Dell's Venue 8 7000 was a decent tablet, but its future doesn't look bright.

Andrew Cunningham

Review: A premium tablet with a cool design that doesn't always work in real life.

There's a lot of competition and not a lot of profit in the Android ecosystem, so it's not exactly surprising to hear that Dell plans to exit the Android business in order to focus on its Windows PCs and convertibles. According to The Verge, the company will continue to honor warranties and service contracts for Venue Android tablets, but it will no longer sell or develop new hardware and will stop releasing software updates for current devices.
This means no more updates for relatively recent releases like the odd but relatively well-reviewed Venue 8 7000.
The move is part of a wider strategy shift at Dell, one in which it will "divest from the slate tablet market" in favor of convertibles, partly because "the tablet opportunity in big business has passed" (read: it can't sell enough of these at a high enough margin to make the effort worthwhile). Windows is a stronger choice for devices that spend all or most of their time attached to keyboard docks, since it offers a wider range of "professional" apps and is already accepted among and familiar to the business and IT types that Dell is targeting with these products. Dell also takes a not-so-subtle swipe at a couple of recent Apple tablets, saying that "CIOs and IT administrators have to consider much more than just the word “Pro” and visual appeal of a device when deciding which products to deploy among their workforce."
This isn't the first time Dell has jumped out of the Android business after dipping a toe in. It pulled the plug on 5, 7, and 10-inch Dell Streak phones and tablets earlier this decade, again because competition was stiff and profits were low.
“It’s a content play with Android. Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search. So far we couldn’t find a way to build a business on Android,” said Jeff Clarke, Dell's Vice Chairman of Operations and Technology.