Dell: Windows 8 Touchscreen Devices to Be More Expensive

If Michael Dell, Dell’s CEO is to be believed, touchscreen laptops and tablets, running on the upcoming Windows 8 OS will be more expensive than the non-touchscreen versions.
Dell is slated to unveil a wide range of Windows 8 products when Microsoft releases its new operating system later this year. However, those products that come with touchscreens will be priced at higher levels, translating to greater profit margins for Dell.
Dell said that this Windows transition, unlike the previous ones, would require users to get a new PC, and so touch capabilities can motivate more consumers to purchase tablets and PCs running Windows 8.
Although Microsoft has not yet announced when Windows 8 will be released, the general consensus is that it will be out later this year.
Dell has been taking measures to bring down its dependence on sales of consumer PCs, where it gets lower profit margins, by selling more high-price systems, like its XPS PCs. Dell’s mobility revenue in the last quarter fell by 10 percent, while desktop revenue slipped by 1 percent.
Dell’s PC business did not live up to expectations thanks to slower demand and customers migrating to tablets and smartphones. The company has already shelved its consumer tablets and smartphones businesses in the past few quarters, retaining only enterprise tablets.
As prices of memory and LCDs fall and hard drive supplies are restored, companies selling these low-end systems benefited. This puts direct pressure on Dell’s pricing strategy.
However, the hard drive issues caused as a result of flooding in Thailand last year have now been resolved and hard drive prices will continue to fall this year.