Tony, re: "lead in creating original design and marketing"
I guess my key word was LEAD. Sony came out with the VIAO series I think a couple of years ago, even though it originally didn't sell well, at least it wasn't plain vanilla like all other PC's at the time. Apple broke the mold with iMac. Dell and Compaq, I think, are just following.
It's always bothered me that there are no good marketers selling Intel based PC's. All they talk about are specifications, nothing about features and benefits. They don't demonstrate the cool stuff you can do with a computer. Apple has been the only company whose advertising has excelled. MHO: that is the only reason for their success, they have an incompatible, overpriced PC that has limited software availability, yet they own considerable market share. Pure marketing.
The PC guys need something different, some reason for people to buy their brand over the next one, except for price. If/when that happens, the product becomes less of a commodity, profits go up. Of course that would probably be somewhat bad for Intel, people would have a reason to buy a Compaq computer instead of an Intel computer, components and specs become a secondary concern.
John |
