Toshiba is the latest computer manufacture to announce plans to stop selling notebook PCs, including Chromebooks, in select countries.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Toshiba, whose new 13.3-inch Chromebook 13 goes on sale in the US next month, has announced a ‘restructuring’ of its PC business efforts in order to ‘secure profitability’ for the future.
As a part of the rejig the company will pivot toward making PCs and notebooks aimed at business customers rather than consumers, though not exclusively. It will streamline its product lines and cut some 900 jobs from its global workforce.
Toshiba also plans to ‘withdraw from unprofitable markets’ entirely, and streamline their sales bases in others. They don’t give a list of which countries are affected.
It’s not all dour news: consumer PCs, including the upcoming second-gen Chromebook 13, will continue to be sold as-is in the US and the UK and other as-yet unspecified countries.
Earlier this week we heard how Samsung plans to halt its notebook ambitions entirely in Germany and The Netherlands.
It’s never great to see a company have to retract or rethink its ambitions, especially when job losses are involved. But with the PC market such a volatile space of ever-diminishing returns right now it makes sense.
- Source: Toshiba Press (via Engadget)