Lenovo won't sell Surface because it sees Microsoft as a competitor

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has proven to be very popular with business users, enough to push Dell and HP to announce that they would officially sell and support the device, alongside their own Windows offerings. Dell and HP are the third and second-largest PC vendors, respectively, so, naturally, market leader Lenovo was expected to also join the Surface Enterprise fold.

That has yet to happen, but it is not due to the lack of customer demand as some folks might be inclined to believe. The reason why Lenovo does not want to sell Surface Pro 3 is because, well, it sees Microsoft as a competitor.

"[Microsoft] asked me more than one year ago, and I said no. I don’t see any reason why I should sell a product from within brackets, competition", Lanci revealed at the Canalys Channels Forum.

Lanci suggests that Lenovo also sees Microsoft as a partner, but that is clearly not the case when it comes to this segment, where he believes Lenovo needs "to be a little bit careful". Seeing as Microsoft advertises Surface Pro 3 as "the tablet that can replace your laptop", and laptops are a big part of Lenovo's PC sales, you can see why the company is hesitant to support the software giant's efforts.

Keep in mind that Surface sales are (slowly) growing, with Canalys estimating that the software giant shifted 1.5 million units in the first quarter of the year. That number will likely only grow as Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book become available, putting more pressure on the likes of Lenovo.

The fact that Microsoft is now also directly competing in the premium laptop space with Surface Book is likely another "warning sign" for Lenovo. The new entry in the Surface line is positioned as an alternative to high-end ultrabooks, and is likely to put a dent in its sales of expensive 13-inch to 15-inch laptops.

But, Dell and HP are willing to take a chance, especially because their own customers have asked them to sell Surface Pro 3. Not wanting to lose their clients to a rival, and lose a source of revenue in the process, both companies seem to have put corporate pride and insecurities aside. Well, at least if they really, really have to.

"We could tell those customer sorry we are not interested because its a competing product, or we could say 'Mr and Mrs customer we’ll take care of you', and that’s what we did", says Dell CCO Marius Hass.

Meanwhile, HP CEO Dion Weisler says "These are customers we have been working with for many, many years and we don’t simply want to cede those relationships to a competitor, so we said 'OK, we’ll participate in that'".

While Dell has not admitted this, HP is clearly not going to push Surface to its customers, but, if the client "absolutely insists", it will sell and support the device. Weisler says this is not HP's "first preference", however, adding that HP sales staff do not get paid to sell Surface.

So, basically, you shouldn't expect Surface sales from Dell and HP to make a huge difference in Microsoft's coffers. This is more of a reactionary move, where neither company seems to be willing to do any more than it has to to keep customers happy.

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