IBM Should Sell Its PC Division



IBM is reportedly in talks to sell off its Personal Computing Division to Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo or perhaps another potential bidder. We think it's time. Selling the unit would fit with Sam Palmisano's strategy of unloading lower-margin hardware businesses and take IBM out of the margin-squeezed PC market to focus on more profitable server, software, and services businesses. At the same time, a sale would reduce the number of core enterprise PC vendors to two – Dell and HP – and perhaps open the door to the US enterprise market for consumer-oriented Fujitsu and struggling Toshiba.