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

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%.

Looking to Buy More Dell

I do not quite agree with this rosy forecast. This is a far more risky "investment" than is generally understood. For those who were around then, remember Data General, DEC, Wang, or even more similarly, AOL. The correct strategy at this point is to cut your losses as well as possible. Here's what I wrote on Fool.com yesterday and last year.

" .. With apologies for posting negative news on a board that by definition is slanted towards bullish Dell, I have not seen anything change since last year. Disappointment of sort: somehow Dell found a way out of its accounting issues, esp. re: no reporting correctly the hidden subsidies it received from Intel.

If anything, Lenovo has grown even stronger, bold enough to drop the IBM moniker ahead of schedule. Lenovo laptops now rank tops in my personal research, service included; HP continues to execute smartly. And Acer is also growing. Services, servers? This is a crowded field, and I don't see Dell with any defining advantage - this is a people intensive field.

The reason Dell could not report advantages from reduced component prices is probably that they are already squeezing suppliers to the bone.

All that is left really is an efficient but increasingly less relevant production system and a brand name which only the uninformed turn to. Some of my technical associates no longer use Dell despite slightly lower prices because of poor support and unfixable issues, esp. for *nix uses. Businesses already using Dell have a harder time changing course, that is one of the only pluses.

The hardest part for humanoids is recognizing our own errors *and* acting accordingly. Nothing like Mr Market to teach us that lesson - and to make matters worse, humans are known to be far more stubborn in learning to change than monkeys or rats.

It took the market 4 years+ to recognize AOL's hubris. In Dell's case it may take less, especially in tougher economic times.
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My post last year for more details is below boards.fool.com/Messag...

...my take is that Dell isnt ( hasnt been) for a long time a good company. I won't rehash the arguments here, only maybe for the record:

Dell isnt inventing much; its advantages are gone - (1) HP, eMachines/Gateway, Lenovo, etc all have streamlined their no-inventory procuction lines; (2) its special relationship with Intel is gone, for many reasons, mostly antitrust action from AMD - bottom line, Dell no longer gets preferential access to cpus and super discounted prices

Dell has been trying desperately to reinvent itself - it does have a short window of opportunity with the intel Core duo (short because AMD is coming next, cf the AMD board) - and did pretty good deal with AMD re supply advantage. Dell does have brand recognition, though that is declining (cf abysmal tech support). Still, how much does one want to gamble/invest on Dell as a reseller, kind of Walmart of computer things?

Finally -from personal experience- I have seen since last year Dell pulling tricks to make money AOL style ( order equipment, get instant 90 day no interest line of credit, get hit with 20% finance charge on the 92nd day because the accounts payable clerk never paid the $0.00 invoice with zero balance due but in very fine print the amount due later, AND the worst, spending hours getting the run around trying to talk to anyone at Dell.. best: from some Indian fellow: can I talk to your manager? .. I have no manager (true) .. end of story, my client never did pay these crazy charges, and Dell didnt respond to our lawyer .. pfft . .when a company has to resort to such methods to generate revenues, I say . .sell!

I much prefer HP (at least great engineering and R&D) and real business values instead. Not that they make all themselves either, smart, they do use Canon laser engines ..

Note added today (12/2/07) since last year HP has been about 30% higher than Dell and going stronger all the time.