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Good post. My frustration with Dell is that they never seem to launch any consumer products with confidence and stick with them. It's always timid and half-bake
by SandB0x 14y ago
Good post. My frustration with Dell is that they never seem to launch any consumer products with confidence and stick with them. It's always timid and half-baked, and there's no rhyme or reason to their line of products.
There have been things like the Adamo laptop, Zino mini-pc, Streak tablet, various different XPS sizes, but they inevitably get cannibalised and confused by Dell's other products, and will be discontinued completely within 18 months.
Right now they have this slightly flimsy looking tablet-notebook hybrid: http://i.crn.com/products/xps_duo12_370.jpg http://i.crn.com/products/xps_duo12_370.jpg and I'm sure it'll be gone in a year or two without any clear successor, and they'll lose any customers who liked the product and bought into the idea.
- ChuckMcM 14y agoI've observed similar behavior in companies that are losing ground and trying to find a 'hit' to pin the company on. A series of initiatives that run for a while and then get pulled. This is especially true for a company that is too afraid to invest in building a new market that may or may not develop, so their 'me too' products come out fairly close to the existing market leaders with a small amount of differentiation.
- saint-loup 14y agoVery true. For another example of their half-hearted strategy, see the release of the Venue Pro, a device for Windows Phone 7 with a form factor really standing apart[1]. It got good press, shipped in few countries with confusing release dates and (from what I've seen) barely any marketing, and was eventually canned fourteen months later. [1] http://www.gizmodo.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/dellwp7home.jpg http://www.gizmodo.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/dellwp7home...
- wahsd 14y agoDell was too focused on being dependent on Windows volume to focus on quality design and build. It's kind of a sad story, and Michael Dell seems to have been AWOL the last 8 or so years. I just don't know what private equity can do other than put the cost and build the profits of the revitalization squarely on the shoulders of employees.