Dell sees tablets as a 'fad'

Tablets are a "fad" and not the big game changer that so many industry observers believe them to be, according to Dell.

Bryan Jones, Dell's marketing director for public and large enterprise in EMEA, told V3.co.uk that PCs and laptops will fail to be displaced by tablets.

"We're seeing the tablet as a fad right now, like netbooks were three years ago. I expect it will find its space in the corporate infrastructure, but it's not sounding the death knell of the corporate laptop or the workstation, or any number of those devices," Jones said.

"When we talk with corporate customers, a lot of people say they want a tablet form factor, but that's as an additional device, not their only device."

However, the popularity of tablets will help drive the consumerisation of IT and force firms to loosen control of corporate IT purchasing.

Jones predicted this would lead to IT chiefs becoming managers of a portfolio of technology solutions, rather than technologists helping to link technology to business needs.

However, tablet sales continued unabated this week, with RIM shifting 250,000 PlayBook devices in the first month since its launch in North America, according to research from investment bank RBC Capital Markets.

Intel also appears keen to get in on the act, after news emerged this week that the chip firm is preparing over 10 tablet models based on its hardware at the Computex show in Taipei at the end of the month.