Attack of the Clones...

[arn]

Many of you may have seen this CNet article regarding Gateway's response to Apple's iMac:

Gateway, which is trying to regain a stable footing in the marketplace, plans to release its fourth-generation Profile PC this summer, said sources familiar with the product. The all-in-one computer built around an LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor would compete against Apple's popular, new iMac.

ZDNet however points out why all previous iMac clones have failed...

"The problem is that the PC business still does not understand branding. What PC makers need to understand is that a brand is not a name on a building in big letters. It is a set of attributes. For instance, Apple has character, and has used that to help build loyalty in the graphics and design industry."

 

[G4scott]

they just don't learn...

The pee-cee companies just don't learn...

 

[Choppaface]

mmmm marketing

 

[MacAztec]

Hahaha

I feel so great for Apple! I despise the PC!

 

[krossfyter]

so what does this mean? is this new gateway pc going to try to look like the imac? if so...how gay is that! that is shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[mywar2000]

If apple is so lame... (to the pc users)

why does everyone want to be like them?! hahaha!

 

[menoinjun]

I'm not sure why gateway is releasing a new computer design. It seems that they would do better to cut their design dept almost completely since they will be under within a year or two. They failed once, are they really going to try and do it again?

-pete

 

[TSEliotLives]

Let's play nice here

krossfyter, not to be completely off-topic, but you might want to use some different adjectives so as not to offend the gay community reading your posts. Don't forget, it's not nice to compare the GLBT population to PC's -- I mean, would you like it?

 

[krossfyter]

would i like what?

anyways forgive me for that one if it offended you. didnt mean to do that.

 

[krossfyter]

tselliot aye...


do you know about the inklings?

 

[Xapplimatic]

Geez, you'd think that Gateway would take a hint from Mike Dell's miserable failures to copy Mac designs..

 

[mcrain]

You know what I can't stand. I can't stand the HP computers at Best buy with the smokey clearish cases. They look like they are trying to be stylish in a G4 tower sort of way, but then they have beige colored Cd drives and cd-rw drives inside them. The higher end models have color coordinated drives, but they also have covers and doors that look like they'd break easy.

Sony's machines have lots of features, but there's just something weird about the way they look. The high end Sony Viao has a DVD-rw and a bunch of features, but for that price, I could get a Really hot G4 tower and be better off in the long run.

I went and looked at PC laptops, and I was stunned at how many things looked like they would break off or stop working. Some features seemed nice, but the machines looked thrown together.

From a PC owner point of view, Apple really really has its stuff together when it comes to designing nice looking computers that look like they won't break easily.

Well, that's my $0.02

 

[Kela]

Steve Jobs was walking around late one night in the deep programming division of Apple in Cupertino. A programmer feel from his chair at Steve's feet and said. " 52 hours Steve, Ive been awake for 52 hours straight". Steve said, "Loyalty....loyalty".

 

[StuPid QPid]

Sorry couldn't resist...

Originally posted by Kela
Steve Jobs was walking around late one night in the deep programming division of Apple in Cupertino. A programmer feel [sic] from his chair at Steve's feet and said. " 52 hours Steve, Ive been awake for 52 hours straight". Steve said, "Loyalty....loyalty".

"Ive been awake" ?. Do you mean "I've been awake" or is that a reference to Johnny Ive, as in "Ive's been awake" ;-)

 

[Brad_Austin]

ZDNet is absolutely correct. Branding is the key to it all. The only PC makers who remotely get it are IBM and Sony. They've spent fortunes building their brands. Yet they still have a way to go to match the ultra-cool and hip brand consciousness Apple has.

Is it any wonder that Apple has done so well in building its brand. The very people so skilled at developing brands are all very much Mac-focused. Most any design and brand consultancy on this planet has Macs in the hands of their revenue generating talent.

As for the industrial design aspect of Apple's machines -- they are the best hands down. From quality of materials used to the functionality of how you pick up a machine, open it, the sensation of touch in the types of casing materials used -- what the "experience" is all about -- Apple is the Disney of the computing world. While some may smirk that such attention to detail and expense on industrial design is over the top and wastefully frivolous-- just look at how the effort puts Apple's products (from hardware, to OS, to applications) above the rest. Then I might add, look at how the dullards in the PC world rush in to copy.

Complexities surround us. The allure of Apple's brand identity is the beauty of simplicity.

 

[StealthRider]

Seems sort of like eMachine's G3 tower copy that they got sued for.....

 

[cancerox]

CNET states:

The Poway, Calif.-based PC maker got into the all-in-one business with its original Profile computer in June 1999 on the coattails of the first iMac. Gateway, however, did beat Apple to the punch with the first all-in-one computer to feature a flat panel.

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Does the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh qualify as an all-in-one with a flat panel? This Macintosh was release in June 1997, so it beat Gateway by TWO years...