back to article Dell takes aim at Apple with upmarket pledge

Dell will spend "hundreds of millions" to upscale its image and stop majoring on its cheapness, after years of slithering down the brand pole. If that wasn't ambitious enough, the PC vendor has trained its sights on Apple, accusing it of dictating to customers. The direct PC vendor's chief marketing officer for consumer and …

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  1. James O'Shea

    think of the shareholders, Mikey

    Shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders, Mikey. You know it's the right thing to do.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it that time again?

    Seems to me that Dell makes this same promise every two years, and still fails to change anyone's perception. I mean, the Adamo is exactly the sort of design-led product that people should lust after, but I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Speakers?

    If Dell were smart they would realise no one cares about the quality of speakers on a computer. Macbook Pro speakers sound worse than ever yet its not hurt sales at all.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That should get the fanois a hollerin'

    "The upcoming product launch apparently includes a laptop that converts into a ten-inch tablet and portables with premium JBL speakers."

    Wow, I'm already super-excited about this! It's like Dacia trying to compete with BMW by adding some 'kooky' new doors, and 'funky' colour options.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's the brand that matters

      Dell means one thing to most people - cheap. Trying to take the brand upmarket is a real challenge because it means competing against companies like Apple and Sony that are already pretty damned good at persuading people their goods are worth the money (even if they're patently junk).

      If Dell chooses to go upmarket and quit grubbing around in the bargain basement it leaves room for some new companies to come in below them. Dell could find itself in the middle ground of the market where no one really wants to be - not cheap enough to sell in huge quantities, not valued enough to command a premium.

      Ditching the name 'Dell' might be a good way forward - or at least spinning off a new brand entirely to cater for people who have money.

      1. Bilgepipe
        FAIL

        Patently Wrong

        You use the word "patently," as in clearly, plainly. If this were so, people would stop buying these goods after realising - as you have /without/ buying them - that they are "junk." Continually escalating sales figures would seem to prove you patently wrong.

        1. Michael C
          FAIL

          what?

          Although PC shipments have been up, that is a condition of the general market increasing. However, Dell's SHARE of that market has declined 9 quarters in a row. They are failing. Profits are down as well. People HAVE realized there are better offers than Dell. Even Acer has better recognition as a quality brand over Dell, and they were FOUNDED on "cheap."

  5. I'm Brian and so's my wife

    New laptop

    I just bought a Lenovo T410 & I'm chuffed with it. Had a look at the Dells in the same price bracket and they just didn't cut the mustard, IMO.

  6. Detective Emil
    Jobs Halo

    Design is dull or disastrous

    The trouble with Dell kit is that, when it first comes out of engineering, the marketing department seems inclined to say "No. That's not ugly enough." Although, on a good day, they may say "No. That's not boring enough." It's when they say "edgy enough" or "cool enough" that one really has to get worried. And, as for "pink enough" ...

  7. Stuart Duel
    FAIL

    Oink!

    It doesn't matter how "up market" Dell make their kit look, with Wiindows on the inside, it's still lipstick on a pig.

  8. Clay Landis
    Jobs Halo

    Dell should fold up shop and give the money back to the stockholders.

    I'm joking. I mean what kind of dumbass would say such a thing? Really, you would have to be a complete and utter moron to ever say such a thing in print. Anybody who would say such a thing deserves to have their company swirling the bowl.

    Hey Dell, you can't buy style. And you do not have it.

  9. Blain Hamon
    Alert

    An Intervention

    Dell, look, yes I'm an Apple fanboy, but it hurts even me to see you stumble about like this. You're going to hurt yourself and others if you keep this up. Look, put the intel subsidy down, you don't need another drink. It's time we talked about your real problem: Support.

    No, adding pink won't help this. Listen. It's more than just hardware. Do you think Apple's getting all Intel's secret stash of good chips? Of course not. Macs break just like any other computer. It's what happens after the hardware breaks.

    Yes, your hardware breaks too. But it's important what happens after it breaks. And frankly, we're all tired of having to call some poor schlebb working minimum wage with a script that asks to reboot the computer and reinstall Windows. And when a lot of hardware breaks, do you do a recall? Do you extend the warranty? Or do you deny everything until you lose the court case?

    That's what Apple has been doing right, with the genius bar in the Apple stores. Yes, I know you installed a kiosk next to them, but one person going, 'buy a computer' isn't support. It means training your users, having actual ability to repair systems, maybe even a taste of the enterprise support.

    No, don't add new speakers on it! Guh.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Heart

    Design flaws

    That's the problem with dell kit. If they want to sell more stuff and at a premium, they need to spend money testing it. Every couple of years I think 'maybe' but then discover keys that come off, power buttons are in the wrong place so your laptop turns on in your bag, the eject button in a silly place on the desktop so it's hard to close ...

    Apple have very few different products, so are able to test each one more thoroughly. Dell either can't, or don't care about quality.

    That aside, they can stand out from the crowd with software, OS X. How can Dell do that, pre installed crapware?

    In the data centre it doesn't matter. As long as the parts are inside you can put Linux on it, have it run your software and then put it in the cupboard.

    1. Mark Olleson
      FAIL

      All about the experience

      Apple is all about the seamless, holistic end-to-end user-experience. There is the impression of quality throughout the experience from the buying experience, through packaging to aftersales service, all of which Apple jealously guards

      Systems integration is important too. Apple does indeed test very thoroughly. The Dell approach is to ODM the hardware, bundle Windows and hope for the best. Hence the fiasco of the XPS range - of premium laptops - which shipped with buggy graphics drivers.

      Whilst Dell continue to outsource core business functions including design and support they will fail.

      1. Shadowboxer

        All about the experience

        You are dead on. It is all about the user experience. Furthermore, Apple maintains a relationship with the customer. In Dell's consumer segment, the relationship ends with the customer's purchase.

  11. tony
    Unhappy

    shovelware

    If they ditched putting so much trial ware on the machine if may do something to improve their image. Parents recently brought a midrange home dell and asked for help moving their stuff across. Just turning the machine on was an annoyance as 4 or 5 apps all wanted details to enable a 'trial period', putting a cd in brought up 3 applications thinking it was for them.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Dell, smell...

    My brother had had a Dell laptop a few years back, it had a serious motherboard problem, which apparently thousands of other users shared, and Dell said was "a design feature".

    A few months ago, I was about to buy a Dell I7 laptop; just before buying, I googled " Dell studio I7 overheating", and found the inter-web awash with howls of agony at users who had had four replacements of this model, others who had blue screen of death from moment of purchase, hundreds and hundreds of different users it seemed, finding the product completely kaput.

    In my family we've decided it a matter of axiomatic wisdom, that one does not buy a Dell product, nohow, no way.

  13. Shadowboxer
    Thumb Down

    Clueless, Absolutely clueless

    Whatever is going on in Dell's Consumer Business? With a reputation as bad as Dell's, they have chosen a horrible ad slogan. You can tell its Dell? Why? Because the motherboard was replaced three times without fixing the problem, and now Dell wants to replace it again.

  14. Bob 18

    Industrial Design...

    If they want compete with Apple, they can't just market themselves "upscale" and tack on some cool-looking plastic. They will have to actually do some high-quality, innovative industrial design.

    Apple is way ahead of almost everbody else on that front. I'd love to see another company catch up, but I'm not holding my breath.

    1. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Let the experts dictate.

      Problem is other brands often do an okay job on the device, then bundle an ugly cheap wall wart power supply or have a really cheap looking box. I know the box shouldn't matter, but it's all part of the experience.

      As for Jobs "dictating", it's pretty clear that Apple are committed to providing a good user experience. I'm sure they do a lot of usability testing. Why release a product and get average reviews when you could just release one product that you think is good?

      This is the problem with many companies, too many models and all of the choices are average to good, but nothing brilliant. Sure, you will bag a sale as you'll have a really cheap option that the consumer can afford. But it is unlikely you will get repeat business.

  15. Quidam

    Give it a shot DELL!

    Bring it on Dell...I've had enough of the iCr@p being forced on the st00pid fruity followers, then they try to preach to everyone the rubbish that's being pushed on them

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    Dell is other people

    Been a Mac user for years but had a 2.6GHz Dull minitower at home for a while. Dell is the ASDA of the name-branded PC universe (notice I avoided saying PC world there) and will always be so, unless and until they inject a little more work into the aesthetics. The Dell I had was made from the kind of plastic my aircraft kits were made out of when I was a kid, although without the glue running down the joints.

    I'm not a fan of Windows and I never felt the need to try Linux, and for what I use a computer for - graphic design, copywriting, Interwebs, etc - Macs are my choice. If someone held a gun to my head and said I had to use a PC, I'd still consider Dell because the price point is so good. I really don't expect quality builds in a PC.

    If Mike Dell wants to compete with the likes of Apple he'd have to start using the kind of construction materials Apple uses and design ethic they have at the Hotel Cupertino.

  17. Goat Jam
    Stop

    Fail-tastic

    While a PC is running Windows it will only ever be "just another PC" and therefore will only ever be compared on the basis of the length of its feature checklist vs its price. Apart from those crazed yoofs who self describe as "hardcore gamers" nobody could give a rats arse about anything else when purchasing a PC.

    What megahurtz is it? It's got "intel inside right? Can I plug my camera in? What about hard-disk RAM then? It has lots right?

    Microsoft has done a *great* job of commoditizing Windows PC hardware* to the point that manufacturers have very little ability to differentiate their products. They are simply widget manufacturers who provide a platform on which MS can sell their OS at exorbitant markups while they scramble around on the ground for any crumbs that they can get to supplement their razor thin margins.

    * Yes, I know that macs have essentially the same hardware these days but in an upmarket package but when someone buys a mac they are buying into the whole package. I have never heard of anyone buying a mac just for the hardware and then blowing MacOS away in favour of Windows. Parallels/Vmware for compatibility, sure. Bootcamp, ditto.

    1. Mark Olleson
      Stop

      Stickers

      Intel has also been successful of building its brand-presence in the PC market - hence the preponderance of Intel Inside stickers (not to mention nVidia, ATi et al.).

      This actively sabotages the ability of PC manufacturers to promote the benefits of system as a whole rather than its component parts. Whilst Apple uses all of the same components, their specification plays almost no part in marketing. You bet that Apple still gets Intel marketing $$ without a sticker in sight.

      If there's one thing that Dell could learn, it's to leave the stickers off.

  18. Antidisestablishmentarianist

    Some of there monitors are nice though

    It's a shame someone else doesn't sell them for them though - my Dell buying experiences have been poster children for "how to turn a simple purchasing pricess into a horror show".

  19. Wibble

    Small pads?

    I know that on my iPad, I often miss items I'm poking at with my fingers. Whilst it sounds a good idea to have a smaller form factor, Jobs' does have a very good point about fat finger syndrome.

    Dell = dull IMHO. There's a lot of room for improvement.

    1. barfridge
      Flame

      7" too small?

      That is absolute bollocks, how big is the screen on the iphone again?

      1. Giles Jones Gold badge

        iPhone screen

        3.5" screen on iPhone.

        But you see the iPad is a tablet computer and iPad specific apps are a lot more complex, lots more controls.

        The iPad may use the iOS but it has drop down menus and other features that the iPhone doesn't.

  20. Cefn
    Gates Horns

    I'm a chooser

    I'm really excited that Dell's focusing on choice.

    That must mean that Dell will let me opt out of the windows license when buying a machine.

    Also their laptops will have the 'dell only charger' detection removed which prevented me from using my laptop in the campervan when I was doing enigmaker - they don't offer a 12v charger.

    Customer attitude - screw you.

  21. Ascylto
    Big Brother

    Why have a rear demister?

    Dell is a bit like Skoda, really. Skoda are now higher than their parent, VW, in the reliability leagues. But the name, dear boy, is still Skoda and it'll take years for it to lose the reputation.

  22. Bilgepipe
    FAIL

    This can only end badly

    So Dell wants to go up-market.

    In other news, Happy Shopper gains Royal Approval.

  23. mrweekender
    Flame

    Bah!

    Apple have dictated that I accept faster, quieter, better designed computer equipment than Dell makes - wow, how dumb am I for buying it? Piss off Dell you're history!

  24. Alan Edwards
    Thumb Up

    Leaping to Dell's defence

    Just for a bit of balance, I'm pretty impressed with the Dell XPS 8100 I got. Design looks thought-out, does everything I need, doesn't sound like it's turbo-jet powered, and the hibernation works, which is more than it did on my last PC.

    I toyed with getting a MacBook Pro just to put Windows on, but it was way overpriced for what it was. I am going to get an 11-inch MacBook Air though.

  25. Colin Ritchie
    Paris Hilton

    Dell looks to sell qualiteeee

    I use Dell computers at work and Apple ones at home, the quality, reliability and user experience couldn't be more different.

    Dell hardware coupled with an ancient and decaying XP based network makes even relatively easy jobs almost impossible feats of effort.

    If Dell are actually prepared to improve their design and quality brief/budget to the point where their equipment works as smoothly as Macs the world will be a much better place, or at least my work environment will be....eventually.

    Why Paris? Lets hope Dell don't make expensive trashy wastes of space by mistake instead.

  26. Andrew Stevenson

    upscale its image

    The best way to fix their image is to put the money into the machines/engineering, not into the marketing bs.

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