Dell's Adamo Laptop: Too Sexy for the Times?

Dell (DELL) on Tuesday launched its Adamo effort, a thin laptop that is all about design and puts the PC maker in a new realm on the perception front. It’s unclear whether people—especially Dell’s fashion-impaired base— will actually buy it.

Adamo means to “covet” or “fall in love with” and that’s fine. However, that love comes at a price: $1,999 to be exact for starters and $2,699 for a higher end model (there are “optional luxury packages”). Simply put, Adamo arrives as netbooks are the fastest growing portion of the PC market—because they are cheap.

Dell’s Adamo has some nice design features: unibody construction, its thin, etched aluminum, 13.4-inch glass wide screen display (see Dell blog, statement, Techmeme). Adamo has been compared to the MacBook Air and the pitch on Dell’s site features this fashion model type of approach. The problem: I already feel left out because I’m kind of unfashionable and won’t be confused with a GQ subscriber—or former member of the Men’s Vogue club heaven forbid.

Check Dell’s Adamo site out. Holy Vogue Batman (for what it’s worth even legendary Vogue chief Anna Wintour is railing against consumerism these days):

Adamo’s site is broken up into parts: Encounter, Discover, Admire and Commit. It’a all kind of breathless. And it’s all so 2006 and 2007, maybe first half of 2008 before everything unraveled. The irony: Dell’s fashion statement comes as high end retailers like Nordstrom are pitching value. Something is amiss here. Are we in the mood for laptop luxury packages?

Don’t get me wrong, Adamo looks swell. I’m just not so sure that the design first approach will work right now. Value matters. Value for performance really matters. In fact, the messaging Dell has had forever may be what matters most today.

Instead, we get a fashion show.

And maybe fashion sells. Rafe Needleman says:

The Adamo is clean. Unlike almost every other Windows laptop you can buy, it has no “Designed for Windows” or “Intel Inside” stickers glued to the palm rest. Turn it over, and instead of a jigsaw puzzle of FCC approval stickers, serial number tags, and Microsoft certifications, there’s a metal builder’s plate with Dell, Intel, and Microsoft logos subtly printed on it. There’s even a special magnetic cover hiding a required licensing sticker.

Oooh. Ahhhh. But let’s give credit where it’s due. Dell is good at design now and Adamo proves it. Dell can actually be stylish. The problem is that you need a customer base that covets that approach and I’m not sure Dell has it. Apple’s (AAPL) strength is that it has a few million customers that will buy anything it puts out—because it’s either a fashion statement or the brand says something about them.

The turn Dell is trying to make is a tough one right now. That said Adamo looks interesting, but probably too fashionable for the price.

Comments

[Premarupa:]

Wrong tactical move in my opinion, and unfortunate branding: Adamo sounds much like the Alamo. Even a white knight rescue would only partly salvage whatever Dell value has left.

Apple users will hardly be fooled, and fashion conscious Microsoft users aren't going to turn around Dell; though Dell might take some market share from Sony, a heavy in the style area.
Probably better alternative would be for Michael Dell to give away some of the profits he made (ahem) on his stock to fund some meaningful R&D. Unlikely and maybe too late. Or just find a good way to close down the company as best as can be done, maybe sell to Cisco.
The trends aren't too good, and nothing new has happened to change my views of two years ago. Technology is brutal, one has to constantly innovate to just remain in the game. For some perspective, mentioned on 12/2/2007:
seekingalpha.com/artic...

And the Dell to HP (or tech Q's for that matter) price gap is still widening. From 12/03/2007 to today Dell has lost 63% of its value vs HP's or the tech sector's 42%.

Mar 17 05:31 PM

[AI Trader:]

Just as location, location, location are the three most important features in real estate success so are price, price, price in the Windows compatible laptop market.

Apple may be able to upsell folks from it's cheap desktop line through a range of pricier laptops. It has brand recognition and unique technology. Dell has little brand recognition and no unique technology. Why am I going to buy this pricey little bugger when HP, Lenovo, Samsung, ASUS, Sony, Toshiba etc. etc etc etc ad infinitum can sell a laptop as good or better at half the price or less?
The answer is, I'm not. And no one else is either. Especially in this age of recession and frugality.

I'm going short in a big way on this turkey. They're doing exactly what Compaq did just before they fell off a cliff. I see nothing but downside for Dell.

Mar 18 08:01 AM

[Mac'em X:]

A turkey is born. DELL decided to compete with the MacBook Air - by releasing a knock-off laptop that's slower, heavier, and more expensive than the Air. Not a good start.

The comment about Apple customers buying "a fashion statement" is a dead-wrong myth. Apple buyers are springing for performance, not fashion, beginning with powerful, stable, virus-free software. Yes, the hardware happens to look great too, but that's NOT the real draw.

On that performance front, Adamo ships with the Vista millstone around its neck. Not a good start at all.

Mar 18 09:14 AM