DUDE! You’re getting a dud
Dell pulled out of the music player market in 2006 with an estimated mere 3% market share. Now they are launching a comeback… though it’s not clear why.
The Wall Street Journal reports Dell plans to release a player with such innovative features as “a small navigation screen” and “basic button controls to scroll through music playlists”. While the player will likely be music only, the company is considering ‘allowing’ users to download movies to watch on their PCs.
From the WSJ description, it appears Dell thinks the one thing they missed with previous players was proprietary software. Bafflingly their new strategy seems to be to force buyers to use Dell software to download content, though music will actually come from a range of existing online services.
It looks as if the software will be based on Zing, a firm Dell bought out last year which specialises in wireless connections to steaming music.
According to the WSJ, “Whereas Apple sells music itself, Dell is aiming to provide products that offer easier access to a variety of sources.” This would be great, except such a product already exists: it’s called an PC.
Dell doesn’t have a great record outside of the PC market: it’s previously ditched both a television range and a series of mobile devices. There are even rumours that Dell’s big idea is to reposition itself as an experience brand with the same type of loyal customer devotion that Steve Jobs & co get from Apple.
That sounds unlikely at best. But the music player work is truly baffling: Dell appears to be pinning its hopes on tying software that isn’t innovative with hardware that isn’t innovative.
If you think we’re being cynical, Dell VP Michael Tatelman’s comments to the WSJ speak for themselves: “Mr. Tatelman declined to detail how Dell expects the strategy to generate profit.”
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