In early September, Dell and HP both announced that they would begin carrying Microsoft’s Surface Pro family as part of their business product divisions. The terms and nature of the agreements MS reached with both companies are unknown, but we do know that Dell is bundling its own services and warranty support with the hardware, and HP will presumably follow suit. Now Lenovo’s president and CEO, Gianfranco Lanci, has told the Register that Microsoft approached his company, too — only to be sent packing.

Speaking at the recent Canalys Channels Forum, Lanci told the Register that “I said no to resell their [Microsoft’s] product. [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.”

At first glance, it might seem insane that Dell and HP would sell Surface’s, but the move to do so actually underlines just how terrible the PC market is. Dell and HP’s net margins are typically in the 3-5% range, and while business machines likely make better profits, these aren’t the $3000 workstations stuffed with Quadro or FirePro cards. Both companies rely on service plans and long-term agreements as a significant source of revenue. Hardware sales in the business segment are often a vehicle to drive lucrative products, not the lucrative products themselves. That said, neither company was thrilled about it — HP’s Dion Weisler told the assembled crowd that HP sales personnel would not be paid for selling Surface Pro and that ” “we will sell, service and support Surface if the customer absolutely insists upon it but that is not our first preference.”