Michael Dell unfazed by post-PC era, describes it as ‘pretty good for PCs so far’

Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell, doesn’t seem too concerned about the post-PC era of computing that Apple regularly uses to describe an era where desktop PCs are less relevant in a world of mobile computing. Speaking at VMworld 2012 this week, Dell used the 380 million PCs sold last year figure to point towards a healthy PC ecosystem, according to a report from Citeworld. “The post-PC era has been pretty good for PCs so far,” says Dell, noting the sales growth over the years. Dell has promised a number of Windows 8 products for launch this year, but the company has not yet revealed any plans for a rumored Windows RT tablet.

Although Microsoft likes to refer to the post-PC era as a PC Plus one, there’s growing evidence that PC sales growth is starting to stall. Gartner and IDC, who track PC shipments, both agreed that shipments of PCs were flat in the second quarter of 2012. HP, a firm that ships the most PCs worldwide, backed up this data with its own third quarter revenue report recently — showing a 6 percent decline in total desktop units and a 12 percent drop in notebooks. PC sales traditionally start to dry up as the industry approaches a new Windows release, but Microsoft and its OEMs will be hoping that Windows 8 brings a much needed boost to shipments and one that keeps the post-PC era a “pretty good” one.