Thanks to you, TechnoLawyer was among the first publishers to identify Dell's customer service problems, which have contributed to the company's woes. Dell has even launched a blog to address concerns and keep customers apprised of its restructuring efforts.
But Dell has another problem. For consumers and small businesses, computers are once again being perceived as cool — a word few people would use to describe Dell's product line. By contrast, Apple and HP have unveiled stylish computers this year with slick TV ads to match. HP even lets you create your own version of its ads. Dell recently acquired Alienware, but those high-end machines have a limited audience.
If Dell shores up service and remains competitive on price, will that be enough? Or must it also start designing PCs with sex appeal across its entire product line?
Update: It looks my crystal ball was crystal clear for a change. On July 27, 2006, BusinessWeek published an article entitled Microsoft, Design Guru about how a group within Microsoft is trying to persuade PC manufacturers to build sleeker, sexier PCs.
From the article: "The Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit, hand-delivered to about 70 designers, contains everything a PC maker needs — color palette, suggested materials, even graphics for icons and power buttons — to create computers, laptops, and peripherals that hew to Vista's look. A separate booklet exhorts hardware makers to eschew drab, utilitarian boxes. Microsoft is providing the toolkit for free and vows not to strong-arm any company into incorporating the concepts."
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