PC makers look to cloud for user loyalty

"Natural evolution" for hardware manufacturers to adopt cloud as way to serve needs of consumers who increasingly favor use of multiple devices and to expand business into industry-specific offerings, analysts note.

Recent moves by PC makers to jump on the cloud computing bandwagon are part of a "natural evolution" meant to increase loyalty of clients who now have multiple devices and to expand from their core competencies.

Arun Chandrasekaran, ICT technology director at Frost & Sullivan, noted that today's consumers are increasingly juggling the use of multiple devices just as PCs, tablets and smartphones, with the expectation of being able to access their information from anywhere, regardless of the device they are using. This ubiquity of access, he said, is only possible if the information is stored in open formats, in a cloud environment.

This, in turn, is compelling PC makers just as Acer and Asus Research to offer cloud services, or as Chandrasekaran puts it, "a natural evolution to serve the needs of consumers".

Ovum's innovation director, Steve Hodgkinson, added that companies just as Apple and Acer see cloud computing as part of an "ecosystem of services" that add value to their devices and promote customer loyalty to their brand.

Additionally, companies just as Dell are expanding the scope of their services by providing industry-specific offerings delivered through the cloud, the Ovum analyst noted. In this context, such services are a "logical, end-to-end complement" to both Dell's core hardware business and its emerging services arm.

Asked which layer of the cloud computing stack these PC makers should be focusing on to capture market share from existing players, Chandrasekaran recommended that "storage-as-a-service" should be their primary focus.

Rival Taiwanese PC vendor, Asus, responded a day later, calling for partners to jointly develop cloud computing technologies and products. According to a report by research news site Digitimes, Asus recognized that applications for the cloud would "become the main battleground" in the IT industry and was looking to strengthen in this area.

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