> It was an iconic, recognizable differentiator, and is the sort of thing that makes people tell the story of your brand. Other brands would kill to have a lega

> It was an iconic, recognizable differentiator, and is the sort of thing that makes people tell the story of your brand. Other brands would kill to have a legacy, especially in a space where the product is otherwise largely interchangable ... > If I was working at Dell, I would be flabbergasted at my competitor just throwing away one of their little advantages. That was my thinking. Why would you give away what distinguishes you and gives you an identity - one with an American, Western connection - and become just another laptop company? Why buy Lenovo now? I read a story about Apple when they fired Steve Jobs. The new management did what everyone had been pushing for years: License the OS to other manufacturers, and start shifting to PC-compatible hardware. Pretty soon, Macs went from a single physical unit with a handle on top for carrying, to a CPU box and separate CRT monitor, available from multiple brands. But then why buy a Mac, with it's broadly incompatible OS and higher price? The marketing genius of the crowds was, of course, incompetent. When Steve Jobs came back he killed the licensing of the OS and immediately put out a fun, high-design, single-unit cheap desktop computer. Edit: On the other hand, maybe Lenovo is smart. There can be a big controversy, lots of people talking about Lenovo, and then they can go back and forth a bit and finally put back the trackpoint.