At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) currently underway in Las Vegas, Dell made an important announcement about laptops. (I know what you’re thinking: Whoa whoa whoa, WTF? It’s Macworld! Why is this Loyola guy writing about Dell? Where is his latest discipline on how Mac rules? Please stay with me for a moment. please.) Dell is undergoing a major rebranding effort that includes dropping the XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brands that customers have come to love. (Okay, maybe it’s less love and more like recognition.)
What is the new name for your laptop? Hold on to your hat. They are (drumroll please):
dell.
Dell Pro.
Dell Pro Max.
(Hold on a second. Did you see the last one, the Dell Pro Max? I want to make this clear, because if you’re like me and hate Macworld’s page design, you know that we place advertising inserts after every fourth paragraph. Every news article is frustrating to editors, so one-word paragraphs like “Dell Pro Max” may disappear from our layouts.
Now, don’t these names sound familiar, especially Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max? If only social media (“social media” meaning BlueSky) could give me a clue…
Now just wait for George, Sean and Christina! According to PCWorld, Dell’s new name has nothing to do with Apple. When asked about copying Apple’s name, “Dell executives dismiss these concerns, indicating that this is a common term with which consumers are already familiar.”
Um, why is this a familiar term? Maybe because Apple uses it? maybe?
But wait! The Dell name goes one step further and presupposes that Dell is not copying Apple. PCWorld says:
Under each layer, computers are further divided into three subcategories: base Well, it’s the basic model…plus It’s one step above that… premium These are the top models in each tier…
In other words, Dell’s highest-end laptops are referred to as Dell Pro Max (Premium), which is one step above Dell Pro Max (Plus), which is one step above Dell Pro Max (Basic). , which is a step above the Dell Pro (Premium)…and better than the XPS, Inspiron and Latitude?
Anyway, there are a lot of things I can believe in while covering Apple and technology in general, and one of them is that companies imitate each other and deny that they are doing so. And another thing you can count on is that PC fanboys will deny that Dell is copying Apple, even though it’s clear that they are. It’s a solid bet and if I could put money into it I would.
