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Mikey See, Mikey Do (9/22/99)
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Man, for a guy who once publicly said that if he were running Apple he'd "shut it down and give the money back to the stockholders," Mike Dell sure seems to be taking a lot of pages from Apple's book these days. Not too long ago Mike gave customers a peek at a new Dell system that's going to ship this fall-- a "small, stylish computer" that will be available in different colors, and that's targeted at the "cool consumer," according to a Reuters story. What do you suppose that's inspired by? But if that's not enough to tell you that Dell's more than a little envious of Apple's newfound glory in the consumer market, just wait 'til you get a load of Dell's new laptop plans...
A Bloomberg article we found while checking out MacInTouch shows just how shamelessly Dell's jumped onto the Apple bandwagon. First of all, the company's introducing "new products and services, coupled with a consumer-oriented advertising campaign, targeted at the growing number of customers who want a computer to use the Internet." Gee, selling a computer to the average shmoe who just wants to get on the 'net? Doesn't ring a bell. But then there's the news about the new "Inspirion 3700" line of laptop systems, which somehow seems just a little familiar. The new laptops are targeted at consumers, come in two colors, and cost about $1800 each.
Now, granted, while this is an obvious attempt to compete with the iBook, it's interesting to note Dell's diversions from Apple's path. First of all, there's the price: Dell's systems are $200 more expensive, though we bet the feature set is a little less stripped-down. For once, though, Apple's actually going to have a straight price advantage with the iBook's $1599 price tag. More importantly, though, is Dell's choice of two colors: blue and grey. That's right, Dell's banking on the fact that "manly men" will gladly shell out an extra $200 to get, as Dell consumer marketing director Klee Kleber puts it, "a tasteful, nice-looking PC that they can carry around." Now this is going to be an interesting battle. How will the iBook's Blueberry and Tangerine fare against Dell's "tasteful" hues? We can't wait to see the sales numbers...
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SceneLink (1799)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/22/99 episode: September 22, 1999: Sotec buckles under the financial pressure of Apple's injunction, and announces a "remodeled" e-one to ship next month. Meanwhile, you might not be able to find any Apple products on the shelves, but you can sure spot 'em on the tube, and Dell continues its Appleification with plans for a consumer laptop available in a choice of two colors...
Other scenes from that episode: 1797: The Stogie Is Extra (9/22/99) Looks like that preliminary injunction against K. K. Sotec is doing its job. Sotec, as you know, is the Japanese company making and selling the Wintel-based iMac clone known as the e-one. Apple sued, and less than a month later, a Japanese court granted Apple an injunction which prohibits Sotec from "manufacturing, selling, displaying, exporting or importing" the e-one product... 1798: Not On Shelves-- On TV (9/22/99) Well, we certainly had an Apple sort of evening while planted in front of the TV last night. Let's see... Sharon was playing with a Blueberry iBook on Two Guys and a Girl, Mimi's upgraded her original Bondi Blue iMac to a Grape one on The Drew Carey Show, and the Tangerine iBook made a brief but clearly visible reappearance on Get Real...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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