The company that effectively created the global PC industry is exiting the market.

The launch of the IBM PC was widely seen as a landmark moment in the history of IT- but perhaps the most significant aspect of the potential sale of the business is that it comes as no great surprise.

There has been plenty of talk about the commoditisation of technology for years, and IBM's rumoured discussions with a Chinese manufacturer shows that PCs are going the way of consumer electronics and inevitably shifting to lower-cost locations.

Only Dell seems able to make any significant money out of PCs. One of the concerns raised by financial analysts when HP bought Compaq was the effect of a struggling low-margin business on HP's overall performance. If IBM stops making PCs, many people will ask whether HP should follow suit.

Some of the largest PC resellers make no money from selling machines - they are sold at cost and any profit comes from associated services. Even Dell is trying to grow its managed services business to offset declining margins.

And it's not only hardware providers that could be hit by the knock-on effect of IBM selling out. Corporate buyers will increasingly wonder why they pay so much for software when the PC itself is only a few hundred pounds. Microsoft has already launched a cut-down version of Windows in some Asian markets - will price pressure and competition from Linux force Redmond to consider such a product for its established markets?

IBM has received a positive response from Wall Street and news suggests that Big Blue's shareholders approve.

The PC is certainly not dead - although new devices such as PDAs and 3G smartphones are becoming serious alternatives - but IBM's withdrawal would spark a major restructuring of the sector. IT directors - and their budgets - would be among the beneficiaries.