The usual ferment of speculation about the holiday retail landscape is in full swing, and Dell has a great story to tell with the up-tempo rhythm of award-winning new consumer products Dell has achieved this year continuing through this holiday season. Consider just a few of the recent and upcoming launches:
· We’ve updated the Studio 15 (starting at $599) and Studio 17 (starting at $749) laptops – both inside and out. We’ve added Centrino 2, plus a few other cool features like a gestures touch pad that enables circular scrolling and zoom and RGB LED display (Studio 17 only).
· And, from a personalization perspective tomorrow we will expand out Art House series options from Mike Ming to include three unique (PRODUCT) RED artwork (additional $75) choices from three very cool artists. Each purchase of a Studio laptop with the (PRODUCT) RED artwork donates $20 to the Global Fund and is connected directly to saving lives in the fight to eliminate AIDS in Africa.
· Speaking of (PRODUCT) RED, we just updated our XPS One – adding a 24-inch full HD display and a special 65W Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 quad core processor, and a new color –Pure White (which is actually (PRODUCT) RED).
· One of the “hottest” products available today is the very cool Studio Hybrid, Dell’s greenest consumer PC. It’s small (80% smaller than typical desktop minitower) and uses up to 70% less energy. Since its small size allows for it to be put in more visible locations, you can also personalize it with color or bamboo or leather sleeves.
· The Inspiron 13 is truly an unsung hero in our product portfolio. While it comes in one color, that Pacific Blue is a serious head turner. More importantly – where else can you get a sleek, sexy thin and light that weighing around 4.5 lbs with starting price of $649? This is a student’s dream machine.
· Inspiron Mini 9 ($starting at $349) and Mini 12: Certainly the Mini 9 has been well received – both the XP and the Dell-customized Ubuntu versions. The Mini 12, announced on Oct. 26, will be available on dell.com very, very soon.
· Traveling to the other end of the product spectrum – gaming – we recently announced that the Alienware Aurora desktop is available in 200 Best Buy stores and on bestbuy.com. We’ve also launched our first quad core gaming laptop – the Alienware M17.
· Next week we will expand our desktop portfolio with four systems based on the new Core i7 architecture. Three of the four systems will target gamers who tend to appreciate the latest and greatest performance technology. The fourth system is unique – it is NOT targeted toward gamers but instead should appeal to the more advanced digital divas (or those who aspire to be such), and given it’s sub-$1,000 starting price point, it should be on the list of those who are looking to purchase a PC that will be relevant for the foreseeable future.
As far as speculation about Zing goes, the interest in Dell’s digital entertainment strategy is encouraging, but there is significant confusion and misinformation in the blogosphere and in press reports about it. As we said a few months ago, our strategy focuses on content offerings and delivery platforms that mix Zing software, remote access and pre-configured media bundles across all of our devices, including licensing agreements with entertainment distributors. It has never been about a music player.
Dell’s approach extends personalization beyond the box and into delivering exceptional content and experiences. The innovative Music & Movies bundles we launched a few weeks ago are clear and promising examples of what’s happening at Dell in digital entertainment. We’re very proud of our emerging role as a change agent, so stay tuned as we continue to generate new ideas and new approaches to personalization.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[…] pumped up some of those offerings on its own blog Monday, claiming that its Studio Hybrid desktop is
November 12th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Please make sure we can buy the new Core i7 desktop with Vista 64 bit preinstalled in Europe too and not only in USA….
Thanks a lot, have a nice day.
Alessadnro
November 12th, 2008 at 11:33 am
A diva is a female singer or goddess - girls only system?
November 12th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Bytemerc - You called out an important point. While not “girls only,” the system was designed to appeal to both women and men who might not be gamers but value high-performance systems.
May 10th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insight at the end there, not leave it with
June 29th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
[…] Zing, a company that was acquired by Dell in 2007. But that player never materialized and Dell, in a blog post last year, acknowledged some misinformation spreading through the blogosphere and said its efforts […]
August 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
[…] is probably some truth to the rumor, because even during the Zing fizzle Dell was quite clear about its plans to focus on content delivery in new devices. As we said a few months ago, our […]