by Kara Swisher
Posted on March 13, 2008 at 1:16 AM PT
Last year, Michael Dell returned to the computer company that he founded to try to get it back on track.
Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodget and I talk about what it will take to get Dell (DELL) moving–innovation–in this video on Yahoo’s Tech Ticker.
Here’s the video:
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Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference.
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Comments
This cracks me up … Dell surged when Apple lagged and now that Dell is lagging, everyone is talking about how Apple’s innovation is all that matters.
Here’s an idea, the marketplace evolved from Dell to Apple, the companies stayed the same. At first consumers were price sensitive, especially when computers were expensive, Dell was cheaper, so they won. The consumer evolved and price is less of an issue than design, so what do people (in rich countries) look for … innovation in design.
Neither of these companies really ‘got’ the consumer, they just did what they did and were lucky at different times. What’s amazing is that they don’t seem to realize this … innovation, especially on design does not matter to poor consumers, only to richer ones … it’s a consumer maturity issue.
This view that Innovation in design is all that matters it a joke .. its all that matters, once the consumer has reached a certain maturity. Design in business, allowing for cheaply produced computers is all that matters when the consumer is poorer.
Not even Microsoft gets this … Bill Gates talks about how boring business is, and how he loves innovation. It’s sad, because his business innovation (building software that could run on any x86 machine) allowed him to beat Apple.
The sooner people realize that innovation is more than just design, and can actually encompass business models; the better off both companies and consumers will be.
Posted by Marco Lugon at March 13th, 2008 at 7:41 amI think Dell gets the concept that innovation extends beyond design, as evidenced by their recent (and yet-to-be-finalized) acquisition of MessageOne. Recognizing the inherent limitations of the hardware market, Dell is branching out into the business services sector. Now let’s see if they can bring their brand clout to bear on this burgeoning market. In any case, it’s clearly an example of business model innovation.
Posted by David Breshears at March 13th, 2008 at 8:26 am