Electronic Devices

Was Dell busted? Looking back, did it all begin to fall apart for Dell Computers in 2003 when Ben Curtis, the actor in the popular “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!” TV commercials, was arrested in New York for marijuana possession?

Probably not. It’s a convenient “E! True Hollywood Stories” turning point, but Dell was already dealing with a number of technical, marketing, management, financial, regulatory and customer-service issues.

I think it really began to fall apart for Dell with the proliferation of technology that seems constantly to be changing and redefining the world of consumer electronics. (Remember cell phones that just made phone calls? Remember cursing because your VCR failed to tape “Seinfeld”? Remember your VCR?)

Dell had made its bones selling customized PCs over the phone or via the Internet. But we’ve become a world of laptop users. Look around you on any plane, in any library, in your local coffee shop. The notebook market appears to be a different game than PCs, with customers who want to test drive the equipment before purchasing it. And then they want to stick it under their arm and head for Starbucks.

Sounds like retailing.

So Dell has announced it’s getting back into the retail game, putting some of its products on Wal-Mart shelves. But even that has produced some questions. Is Wal-Mart the right partner for Dell? Yes, Wal-Mart has 4000 stores. But no, it might position Dell as a low-end provider.

Whoever said retailing was easy? Well, Apple for one. This computer maker has so successfully built its retail chain, it’s hard to believe that in 2000, when Apple announced plans for its own stores, the industry scoffed. Many analysts predicted at the time that Apple would shut down the stores in two years.

Six years later, the chain is thriving. And credit seems to go to Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, once-and-again ceo and in-house creative conscience. When VM+SD wrote about new Apple ventures in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, we were told how Jobs involved himself in every detail of planning, design and execution. (“Pain in the ass” becomes “genius” when the plan works.)

Which brings me, finally, to Sony, which went into the retail chain game in 2004 and today has 39 Sony Style stores. Silicon Valley business professor Randall Stross, writing in The New York Times in May, says the Sony style isn’t working. “Last Sunday,” he wrote, “I headed for the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., where a Sony Style store competes almost directly across from an Apple retail store.

“A group of five young [Sony] salesmen… were so engaged in a private discussion that [I] failed to draw anyone’s attention. …A few yards away, the [Apple] store was packed, yet the salespeople were alert and attentive.”

Dennis Syracuse, Sony’s senior vp, retail, told Stross his stores were conceived as “fashion boutiques,” pointing out one store’s location next to Gucci and across from Versace.

But retail consultant Will Ander told Stross: “Sony doesn’t get retail. The stores are not energized and not shop-able.” Wendy Liebman, the founder of WSL Strategic Retail, told Stross that Sony Style stores are merely “a place of stuff.” She said that a successful brand excites a passionate attachment, the way Starbucks or Target does, and that Apple’s stores exemplify “emotional connection.” “People can just walk in, absorb the fumes and feel like the smartest technophile in the world,” she said.

With the way the game is changing, “smartest technophile” is a moving target. So is “smartest techno-brand.” Dude, Dell used to be that brand. But now Apple has given Dell and Sony a new bar to clear. Of course, a word of caution: Apples have been known to fall, too.