A Desirable Dell?

There's no secret to the facts that Dell is in trouble these days, with tumbling market share and profits, Dell is no longer the darling on Wall Street or in the hearts if information technology professionals, how this came about may be a shock to Dell, but it's hardly a surprise to the buying public and CIO's who have grown weary of Dells falling customer service ratings and consumers who bought their Dell machines because of price and not visual or dare I say sex appeal.

Well this would be an oversimplification, but one could say that when you buy something on price and not desire it's always easy to go onto something else, and this seems to have dawned on Dell as well as other things.

If you want Apple levels of fanatical devotion, you have to try harder than just giving a great price and nothing else, and now it seems if rumors prove to be correct, Dell may be ready to deliver, these are admittedly blurry at best shots of an upcoming revision to Dells premium line of XPS notebooks.

It's best to reserve judgment until one can fondle and hold in one's hands...But if this notebook looks anywhere near as good as appears in these pictures?

There may be light at the end of the tunnel for Dell.

engadget

NASCAR Founder Dies

This from Autoweek

William C. (Bill) France, whose firm hand and visionary approach built stock-car racing into one of America's most successful sports and business enterprises, died June 4 at his home in Daytona Beach. He was 74 and had been in failing health for several years.



France was the eldest son of NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation founder, the late William Henry Getty (Big Bill) France and his wife, Anne. Even though he wasn't technically a junior, William C. France often was spoken of as Bill Jr., Little Bill or Billy. He took over from his larger-than-life father as president of NASCAR in January 1972 and spent almost 28 years building the Daytona Beach-based sanctioning body into a billion-dollar industry. He gave that position to Mike Helton in 2000 but remained as chairman of the board and CEO until October 2003, when he stepped aside in favor of his son, Brian Z. France.

Bill France will have to go down in history as one of the giants and geniuses of auto racing; he took a small and regional collection of racing events and turned into one of the most successful forms of motor sport in the world, he stuck deals for television contracts and promotional events that would become the envy of other forms of racing in the United States and the world.

France ranks up there with the likes of Roger Penske and Formula one Boss Bernie Ecclestone for having vision and the testicular fortitude to see it thru and make it a reality. While this writer was never a fan of NASCAR I always admired and respected the way they've been able to take NASCAR form strength to strength and continue to lay a solid foundation for the sport.

It will be interesting to see how the present challenges of declining TV ratings and a possible maturing of the growth of the sport will be addressed by the present generation of the Frances that run the series, will they be able to rise to the challenge with the same sort of determination and creativity that was needed to bring the sport to the heights and popularity that it has reached today?

Only Big Bill knows for sure.

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What’s up with the iPhone?

Well it seems that the end is near, not the end of the world mind you, but the end of the waiting and rumor mongering about what the iPhone is and what people hope it will be, there seems to be two types of iPhone people, even among the Mac faithful, some can't wait and preach the brilliance of Steve Jobs and his vision, and then other don't really care and have no plans to abandon their Pam Treos

I'm of the wait and see mindset; I think there's more to the iPhone than meets even the jaded eye, I can honestly say that I have no plans to purchase one regardless of the hype, but it will be interesting to see the reaction from both camps once it hits the AT&T Stores.

Let the bickering begin.

 

 

Super duty F-150 is a Hit?

According to Ford, it newest F-150 super duty is selling better than expected and is showing signs of being a good seller within it market segment, what this all means will probably take a little more time, but this also goes back to the rule about making a desirable product and they'll come to you with their wallets open.

In this case Ford hasn't lost focus (no pun intended) on this product segment and it reflects initial take up after introduction of the vehicle.

Link

Ford to kill the ranger

It seem that today latest Autoweek online seem to imply that Ford is considering putting its ancient ranger entry level compact truck out to pasture, I don't have issues with this, the ranger has been around a long time and ford seems to have been undecided almost just as long about with to do with the little beastie.

No the market has shifted and the ranger no longer seems to make sense, I would probably let the present vehicle pass and keep the name for something new and fresh, (though it seems Ford is incapable of thinking about new and fresh) this would be a good way of using a name with still a lot of brand recognition and value.

Then again this is another area where I've seen Ford drop the ball, they wait until a certain model no longer sells well and has lost its appeal to the public(think Taurus) and then introduce a model with no existing recognition what so ever (think Ford 500) and hope that the name will appeal to the buying masses .

Either way, it time for some fresh thinking in this market segment, how about the return of the Ranchero, don't laugh, if Toyota can make a car like the scion appealing and God knows that the car is so ugly that it's cute, Ford could do worse.

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