Posts Tagged: dell zino

dell / observatory / technology — 10 Comments
8
May 12

The mysterious death of Dell Zino

If you’re a fan of murder mysteries, you might enjoy this one — courtesy of Dell.

The body has disappeared. There is no smoking gun. There is a distinct lack of witnesses. And nobody’s talking.

Whatever happened to the Dell Zino?

You may remember that in November of 2009, Dell churned out a somewhat bloated copy of the Mac mini. One of its dubious claims to fame was its selection of colorful lids. (Odd, considering that this device wasn’t to be carried around and shown off like a laptop.)

Of course, there is nothing unusual about a computer being pulled from the market. With scores of PCs being introduced every year, scores must die to make room.

What is unusual is for a computer to suddenly disappear — along with most of the evidence that it ever existed.

For the fun of it, my inner investigative journalist dived into this story, eager to understand what tragedy had befallen our dearly departed. But for the most part, I came up empty.

I started by searching the Dell site. Nothing very Zino-ish, other than a bunch of memory modules for the Zino you already own. (Assuming that ninjas haven’t stolen it in the night.)

I asked a Dell sales rep via email: “Is Zino still available, and if not, do you have similar models?” The answer: ”Zino is no longer available. We have no similar models.”

Surely the Internet would yield some clues. But no luck. All I could dig up were a few meager comments on a scattering of blogs from people wondering why Zino wasn’t on the Dell site anymore. Zino’s exit seems to have generated about as much interest as its entrance.

At that point, I gave up. If anyone has any real information on what happened to Zino and why, it would be interesting to hear. Otherwise, we’ll just have to file Zino away with other Dell ideas that copied Apple’s innovations, only to be quietly escorted out the back door. Like the Streak tablet and super-thin Adamo laptop.

The moral of this story, of course, is that originality sells better than imitation. Clearly Dell has some work to do in the fresh thinking department.

However, it’s not all bad news for our friends at Dell:

They may not be very good at creating magic — but they’re getting incredibly good at making things disappear.

In other news: My book, Insanely Simple, made it to the New York Times Best Seller list in its very first week. A huge thanks to all of you for your support!

naming / technology — 11 Comments
16
Nov 09

Dell shifts into overbrand

zino

Dell layers a new sub-brand on its sub-brand

With a name that brings back memories of their dead-end acquisition of Zing, Dell now brings us Zino. Or should I say Inspiron Zino. Sorry — I mean Dell Inspiron Zino HD.

It’s not exactly a miracle of miniaturization (1.5 inches bigger than the Mac mini in every dimension). But I must admit, Dell has accomplished something fairly unusual: they’ve squeezed three brands into an eight-inch square.

This little bout of multi-branding actually pales in comparison to what Dell has accomplished across its product lines. It’s the branding equivalent of urban sprawl.

For example, a customer shopping for a laptop at dell.com can now choose an Inspiron. Or Latitude. Or Studio. Or Adamo. Or Precision. Or Vostro. Or Alienware. That’s seven independent sub-brands with crossover features, named with no apparent logic. Grafted onto those sub-brands are the sub-sub-brands: XPS, Mini and now Zing. I mean Zino.

I’m not speaking out against sub-brands. I’m speaking in support of common sense. Isn’t the whole point of creating a sub-brand to distinguish a family of products? Seriously, how many customers can play back what Dell’s product lines stand for?

“The more, the merrier” is not a marketing plan. That Dell can provide a ton of choices is a wonderful thing. That they can’t organize them into clearly defined sub-brands is a shame.

Oh god. It’s happening again. I’m feeling the urge to make another Apple comparison. But I will resist — and compare to Dell’s nearest competitor instead. Over at Acer.com, things are pretty darn clear: three laptop sub-brands, with multiple choices under each. Should Dell really give a damn how Acer does it? Only if they’re taking inventory of the reasons Acer just blew past them to become the world’s #2 PC maker.

To be honest, I’m surprised that Dell has let this go on. If making life simpler for customers isn’t reason enough to streamline, you’d think that cold, hard cash would be. While Dell’s margins have become microscopic, the cost of designing, manufacturing and marketing this mélange of sub-brands is huge.

But it goes as it goes. In Dell’s world, the Dell Inspiron Zino HD will be a perfect fit. Under-marketed — and over-branded.