Dell Australia managing director Joe Kremer refuses to give up the tablet computing race, claiming that “shiny” devices like Apple’s iPad are too difficult for business to support.

What is easy to support are nonexistent Dell tablets running Windows 8. Those are really easy to support. You hardly have to do anything! Don’t buy iPads! Wait for our Windows-based tablet that we’ll ship more than two years after the iPad! It’s so much better!

Referring to the iPad, Mr Kremer told a media and analyst briefing in Sydney on Wednesday: “People might be attracted to some of these shiny devices but technology departments can’t afford to support them.

“If you are giving a presentation and something fails on the software side it might take four days to get it up and running again. I don’t think this race has been run yet.”

Translation: “I have never used or even seen an iPad before and I have no idea how they work, so I’ll assume they work like the pieces of crap we sell.”