Lenovo won't sell SP3?
WOW! A lot of people are reading a lot into this. But really, the only group that suffers here is Lenovo. Their excuse is that it competes too closely with some of their other offerings. And that is a valid argument... if we were talking about consumer sales.
Margins on business class laptop ARE better than on consumer class ones, but at the end of the day, the real money in enterprise computing is in support contracts. As a reseller, I imagine they get some share of the profits from the hardware sales, and as the vendor they also become the supplier of the support contracts. And, the Surface Pro 3 is a fairly damn good product in terms of quality which should make it compelling.
Another problem is optics. Lenovo may have products that compete closely with the Surface Pro. But those products won't generally be looked at seriously for enterprise customers. As I said, optics. There is probably no reason a Yoga laptop couldn't replace a Surface Pro for example. In fact, it probably has both pros and cons when compared and might even tilt a bit in favor of the Yoga (the Yoga products are true laptops that can turn into a clunky tablet which probably better matches most enterprise use cases). But Surface Pro has MUCH better brand recognition. Especially as a workplace device.
To put things in perspective, my company currently buys their enterprise computers from Lenovo. Those are just plain old laptops. But the company bought a few users Surface Pro 3 devices as a trial. They DID NOT buy a Yoga or other competing Lenovo product despite having a professional business relationship with the company.
And, that highlights something else... while the Surface Pro lineup may have better brand recognition in the enterprise world, it is still regarded as a niche device. A large company may buy a few dozen SP3's for execs and more mobile users but then traditional laptops and desktops for other users. Refusing the sell the Surface Pro lineup may lead companies interested in trying out to switch to Dell or HP because many IT departments want to keep all of their computer assets under a single service contract. It is often cheaper and definitely easier that way.
Also, as service contracts come up for renewal it isn't unheard of for companies to change suppliers. So, Lenovo could even lose current customers thanks to this move.
In conclusion, SP brand imaging and competitors that are willing to resell the devices create a landscape where it is kind of foolish to turn it down. If they do in fact lose some big customers over the move, expect them to change their minds.
Margins on business class laptop ARE better than on consumer class ones, but at the end of the day, the real money in enterprise computing is in support contracts. As a reseller, I imagine they get some share of the profits from the hardware sales, and as the vendor they also become the supplier of the support contracts. And, the Surface Pro 3 is a fairly damn good product in terms of quality which should make it compelling.
Another problem is optics. Lenovo may have products that compete closely with the Surface Pro. But those products won't generally be looked at seriously for enterprise customers. As I said, optics. There is probably no reason a Yoga laptop couldn't replace a Surface Pro for example. In fact, it probably has both pros and cons when compared and might even tilt a bit in favor of the Yoga (the Yoga products are true laptops that can turn into a clunky tablet which probably better matches most enterprise use cases). But Surface Pro has MUCH better brand recognition. Especially as a workplace device.
To put things in perspective, my company currently buys their enterprise computers from Lenovo. Those are just plain old laptops. But the company bought a few users Surface Pro 3 devices as a trial. They DID NOT buy a Yoga or other competing Lenovo product despite having a professional business relationship with the company.
And, that highlights something else... while the Surface Pro lineup may have better brand recognition in the enterprise world, it is still regarded as a niche device. A large company may buy a few dozen SP3's for execs and more mobile users but then traditional laptops and desktops for other users. Refusing the sell the Surface Pro lineup may lead companies interested in trying out to switch to Dell or HP because many IT departments want to keep all of their computer assets under a single service contract. It is often cheaper and definitely easier that way.
Also, as service contracts come up for renewal it isn't unheard of for companies to change suppliers. So, Lenovo could even lose current customers thanks to this move.
In conclusion, SP brand imaging and competitors that are willing to resell the devices create a landscape where it is kind of foolish to turn it down. If they do in fact lose some big customers over the move, expect them to change their minds.
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