Dell Technologies Inc. is rebranding its PCs in a way that echoes Apple Inc.’s naming conventions, in an effort by the computer maker to stimulate demand.
Decades-old PC product names such as “XPS” and “Inspiron” will be eliminated in favor of simplified branding around the word Dell on its next generation of devices, the company announced Monday ahead of CES, the annual consumer electronics show taking place this week.
“Customers really prefer names that are easy to remember and easy to pronounce,” COO Jeff Clarke said during a briefing with reporters before the show. Buyers They shouldn’t have to waste time “deciphering our nomenclature, which has been a little confusing at times,” he said.
PC sales have been anemic for years after a buying frenzy toward the start of the pandemic. Dell and its peers HP Inc. and Lenovo Group Ltd. have been testing new strategies to encourage upgrades. AI-optimized systems and the upcoming end of support for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 have been touted as catalysts for new purchases.
Now, most of the company’s new PCs will be divided into three tiers: Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max.
Those attending the press conference were quick to question the similarities with the way Apple names its devices. Recent generations of iPhones also carry the names “pro” and “pro max” to differentiate higher-end devices.
“I wonder why they didn’t choose something original, because they basically have Apple branding here,” one audience member joked. Another said: “Their brand sounds a lot like Apple, aren’t they imitating them?”
Dell executives defended the decision, saying that no one owns words like “pro” or “max.”. The decisions were backed by research with “tens of thousands of customers,” Clarke said. One similarity to Apple’s approach is the way Dell is “anchoring” its products to a simple brand, said Kevin Terwilliger, vice president of Dell’s PC business.
Alienware, the gaming-focused PC brand that Dell acquired in 2006, is exempt from the name change. Many of the new Dell-branded devices will include drives of neural processing, chips optimized for artificial intelligence tasks, Terwilliger said in an interview.
“There is an installed base of 1.5 billion PCs, which are aging, and will need to be replaced with AI innovation,” CEO Michael Dell said at the press conference. The new name “will make it easier for our customers to do business with us.”
