During its own press event, Dell faced ridicule for adopting Apple’s iPhone naming scheme for its computers. Their line of laptops and desktops is now categorized into three levels, directly inspired by the iPhone series: Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max.
Although Dell asserts that this decision was made for the sake of simplicity and not to imitate Apple, they have succeeded in confusing consumers even more than before…
Bloomberg has reported that Dell is phasing out its traditional sub-brands, such as XPS and Inspiron, opting instead for the new naming structure.
Now, the majority of the company’s new PCs will be categorized into three tiers: Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max […]
“Customers greatly prefer names that are memorable and easy to pronounce,” said Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke during a press briefing ahead of the event. Buyers shouldn’t have to waste time “deciphering our nomenclature, which has sometimes been quite perplexing,” he added.
If Dell hoped to keep the origins of these names under wraps, they were mistaken.
“I’m curious why you didn’t come up with something original, since you basically have Apple’s branding here,” quipped an audience member. Another remarked, “Your branding echoes Apple quite a bit — are you just following their lead?”
The new tiers fail to simplify the buying process for consumers, as all three categories are further divided into Base, Plus, and Premium variants. Is a Pro Plus superior to a Pro Max Base? What about comparing a Pro Premium to a Pro Max Plus?
Engadget points out that the situation becomes even more absurd when Dell adds size labels to its desktop models.
Good luck trying to make sense of the names Dell Pro Max Micro and Dell Pro Max Mini without experiencing brain overload […] And yes, those models will have their own Plus and Premium sub-branding.
So yes, there will indeed be a Dell Pro Max Micro Plus.
This is reminiscent of Apple’s Mac model names during the 1990s (Macintosh IIvx, Macintosh Centris/Quadra 610, PowerBook Duo 280c, etc.) before Steve Jobs returned and revamped the entire lineup.
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