For months we’ve been reporting that iPad sales are eroding demand for traditional PCs, such as netbooks. Little wonder then top executives have begun sniping at Apple as inflexible and only for consumers with oodles of cash. The most vocal sour grapes come from the sales and marketing heads at HP and Dell.
“I can say that it really feels like they’re [Apple] holding you hostage sometimes,” said Stephen DeWitt, senior vice president of HP’s Americas Solution Partners, talking in an interview about the difference between how the PC maker and the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant work.
DeWitt characterizes Apple as all about the sale and disconnected from retailers. “If you have an issue with HP you can pick up the phone and talk to someone. That’s something that’s impossible with Apple.” Perhaps HP is still smarting over an industry report released earlier this year showing Apple pushing HP out of the No. 1 slot for mobile PC sales? Then again, maybe HP’s anger is displaced. Recently, Google locked HP and others out of the new Honeycomb version of Android, forcing HP to rely on its questionable webOS platform.
DeWitt wouldn’t be alone in any Silicon Valley anger management class. Dell’s Andy Lark used the old class warfare argument against the iPad. The head of Dell global marketing for enterprises told an Australian interviewer it simply is “not feasible” to pay for a full-equipped iPad with keyboard, mouse and case.
“Apple has created a market and built up enthusiasm but longer term, open, capable and affordable will win, not closed, high price and proprietary,” Lark is quoted. But here’s the gem: “Apple is great if you’ve got a lot of money and live on an island.” Besides, “Android is already outpacing them [Apple],” Lark concludes.
Well, that certainly slams the book on the iPad, right? For Apple’s opinion, we’ll have to wait until April 20 when the company is set to release its second quarter numbers and presumably an indication of iPad demand.
[9to5Mac]
