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Yearning for color on laptops
January 30, 2006
In his early days as an engineer and executive at Apple Computer, he played an integral role in the development of the Macintosh II and the PowerBook. Now, as Dell's senior vice president in charge of product design, Medica is overseeing Dell's attempt to shed its image among consumers as a stodgy supplier of no-frills business PCs to a hip, edgy company attuned to the tech-savvy buyer. In other words, the "Appleization" of Dell.
Upon his arrival at Dell in 1993, Medica built up another area in which Dell had little prior experience: the notebook business. He's now charged with finding new ways to make Dell's PCs stand out in a boring gray-and-black commoditized world that, ironically, it helped create. At the same time, Dell is rebuilding its relationships with consumers following an awful year in which it launched the largest recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry and admitted its service and support capabilities needed work.
Medica sat down with CNET News.com to discuss Dell's renewed focus on product design and how the company can get in the good graces of fickle hipsters.
Q: Do you think that Dell can learn to be cool?
Medica: Define "cool."
That's the thing. It's one of those things where you don't know exactly what it is, but you know when you see it. Is this something that you can learn how to do, or are product design and "coolness" things that must be part of a company's culture?
Medica: There is certainly a cultural element. When I think of an awesome product or products that I've had in my lifetime that I've thoroughly enjoyed, they're the products that are extraordinarily well thought through. (They) have a level of physical quality and predictability and function, and they are as enjoyable to use on the first day as they are on the day you've replaced them. They have a level of support and/or trust with the company from which I purchased the product, and whenever I need any type of service support?it's predictable, it's well done, and solves my issue.
Those are the kinds of attributes that I speak to. Then there's a whole element of emotional attributes that have to do with what kind of an emotional reaction do either I have to the product, or do others have when they see the product.
That's where you can gauge and/or measure when you have done it well--those elements of that product experience are resonating both with you personally as well with others around you. And that can be whether it's the press, whether it's peers, whether it's friends, family, customers.
Does cool design need to be part of a company's culture in order to reach these types of customers? I've been to Cupertino (Apple's headquarters) and I've been to Round Rock (Dell's home base) and as you know, those are two very different offices.
Having had a chance to work in both settings, what's so appealing and continues to be so appealing today about Dell is that it really is about the customer. And it really is trying to ensure that we are delivering a value proposition in the form of a leading product, a great value with an awesome support and service backup. That is what has made this company what it is today. And we would not have gotten to where we have gotten to if we had terrible products, right?
Sure. But why then are we having this conversation? Why is design a renewed or a heightened priority for Dell now?
I think we all see that in many ways, there has been a commoditization to some degree in the PC space. And there is an opportunity for Dell to be able to further distinguish itself by investing further in product design and differentiating our products to create a new level of demand, and also to enable us to create even more enduring relationships with customers.
When it comes to the overall design, how much do your core business customers care?When we take a look at general usability or industrial design and appearance, the design languages of our client products--(such as) the OptiPlex, Precision or Latitude products--were derived to support the following attributes: to convey to users a level of professionalism, a level of quality and durability and reliability, a level of compatibility with the office environment and other products or furniture that are in the environment of the end user.
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Dell's products are boring, their support is terrible, and the overall build quality continues to erode as the years tick by.
You can't even chock XPS' design up to Dell -- that's all Alienware doing what they've always done. It's ironic that Dell couldn't even see the value in infusing some of their design elements into the consumer products, after paying a premium for a well-designed PC maker.
-Matt
Its unfortunate that Alienware wasn't allowed to grow into a real competitor.
One other comment: the XPS design was spawned at Dell, not Alienware. For more background on the origin of the XPS design, check out the following blog: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/07/05/79.aspx" target="_newWindow">http://www.direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/07/05/79.aspx</a>.
--Bridget at Dell
Tried it, didn't care for it, tired of hearing you chant about it.
What Dell needs is higher quality computers, higher quality customer service and technical support, and service/support employees who actually know how to speak American-english.
machines in the industry."
Customer surveys say otherwise. Even Dell admits they have
problems.
lot of Dells. We also build and sell our own computers and until
a customer gets ready for an upgrade or has some form of
software problem we don't see them again until they get ready
for a new computer or bring in a friend to get a computer. All
I'm saying is with Windows computers your better off going with
a home town builder or build it yourself. All the name-brand
Windows PCs suck. But yeah from a tech point of view Dells are
great easy to work on and a very reliable workflow.
On the Mac front I'm not sure where you get "overpriced" do a
price comparison they are almost equal and if you count
software the Mac wins in price. And exactly what sort of
hardware is lacking?
During the whole interview, I did not hear him say one thing that
even sounded close to any type of forward thinking or even any
creative ideas at all.
sow's ear. Dell should just shut down, sell the assets, and return
the money to the shareholders.
Cool left with Steve Jobs and it returned with Steve Jobs.
he really needs to get out of his suit more often.
For myself, cool is a 6'6" surfboard handshaped by a good friend, that gives me more pleasure than a Dell can ever hope to give. If Dell reckons a computer is cool, try doing something in the real world.
Their "break" from a total Intel mindset is refreshing and I think they will give HP a run for their money.
I give credit to Michael Dell, although he is in the background now he still steers the ship when it is "off course". Way to go Mike.
Perhaps both are true.
Anyway, Dell offers shoddily made PC's that have no imagination or innovation put in them, are overpriced relative to its features, And as an added "bonus" their support sucks.
Dell wiil neither grow, nor make strides until these issues are truly solved. And it will still take a few years after that happens for them to gain the trust on computer users with at least half-a-clue.
hardware box manufacturer. Computing is about ideas and
software. That's where Apple gets its excitement from - new
things you can do with computers in innovative ways. Two
companies stand out in integrating hardware design with the
needs of software in mind, Burroughs with the B5000 and Apple.
Dell does not put money into software research, but just expects
to make huge profits by building and selling dull boxes - that is
decidedly uncool.