Dell has changed its product naming conventions in a huge way. Gone is the Latitude brand that has graced Dell’s laptops for over 30 years. And with it, the XPS and Inspiron names are also disappearing. Instead, Dell has opted for a very Apple-like branding strategy.
Dell has adopted three new names for its laptop PCs:
- Dell: Designed for play, school and work.
- Dell Pro: Designed for professional-grade productivity.
- Dell Pro Max: Designed for maximum performance.
Sound familiar? A Quick Look at Apple’s website reveals that there’s an iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
In simple marketing terms, this is a classic good, better, best approach.
Back when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Michael Dell was asked what he’d do with Apple if he were in Jobs’ shoes. His answer will gone down as one of the greatest misjudgements in tech history.
What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.
History can have a wry sense of humour. Today, Dell has a market capitalisation of about USD$84B. Apple is worth about USD$3.7T. It’s easy to see which shareholders are on top.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.