http://gapingvoid.com/2005/07/09/how-to-lose-x-hundred-million-dollars-for-no-good-reason/ "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards" Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:55:13 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://gapingvoid.com/2005/07/09/how-to-lose-x-hundred-million-dollars-for-no-good-reason/comment-page-1/#comment-6794 mtc Mon, 11 Jul 2005 09:58:21 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1598#comment-6794 Hey Hugh, Great blog. I agree that Dell is suffering from myopia, and unprofessional communications and customer relations folks. But the fact that someone once preceived Dell as a "technology" company is really a bit misinformed... and never an outright goal of Dell. From day one Dell has been nothing but a firm hell-bent on operational efficiency. In fact, they've been constructing one of the best marketing mechanisms for now 20 years. What they market (and to a lesser and lesser degree manufacture) are the wares of the PC industrial ecosystem. And have proven time and again, when it comes to consistent bottom-line performance, they have created an exceptional marketing platform for PC-based hardware and it's complementary products. I admit they have the tendency to be crude and blunt, with a Texas-style over-confidence, and seem to be demonstrating a lack of respect to the burgeoning power of the blogospere, but this is typical of them. Never and early adoptor, but always a fast and damn cheap follower. They must figure this out (I suspect they will), or they will pay in the marketplace. As this company tries to extend more and more into the consumer space, they will need to ensure they don't tarnish their image via word of mouth. As if "Dell" didn't suffer from an extreme case of the not-cools already. Hey Hugh, Great blog.
I agree that Dell is suffering from myopia, and unprofessional communications and customer relations folks.
But the fact that someone once preceived Dell as a “technology” company is really a bit misinformed… and never an outright goal of Dell. From day one Dell has been nothing but a firm hell-bent on operational efficiency. In fact, they’ve been constructing one of the best marketing mechanisms for now 20 years. What they market (and to a lesser and lesser degree manufacture) are the wares of the PC industrial ecosystem. And have proven time and again, when it comes to consistent bottom-line performance, they have created an exceptional marketing platform for PC-based hardware and it’s complementary products.
I admit they have the tendency to be crude and blunt, with a Texas-style over-confidence, and seem to be demonstrating a lack of respect to the burgeoning power of the blogospere, but this is typical of them. Never and early adoptor, but always a fast and damn cheap follower.
They must figure this out (I suspect they will), or they will pay in the marketplace. As this company tries to extend more and more into the consumer space, they will need to ensure they don’t tarnish their image via word of mouth. As if “Dell” didn’t suffer from an extreme case of the not-cools already.

]]> http://gapingvoid.com/2005/07/09/how-to-lose-x-hundred-million-dollars-for-no-good-reason/comment-page-1/#comment-6793 hugh macleod Sun, 10 Jul 2005 16:38:41 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1598#comment-6793 Ooops.... Fixed. Ooops.… Fixed.

]]> http://gapingvoid.com/2005/07/09/how-to-lose-x-hundred-million-dollars-for-no-good-reason/comment-page-1/#comment-6792 Dan Hartung Sun, 10 Jul 2005 11:23:48 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1598#comment-6792 Um, Hugh, that points to an entirely unrelated article on tagging. Um, Hugh, that points to an entirely unrelated article on tagging.

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