Dell hums a new Ditty

And they’re using Enderle as consultant on the project.

(A year ago, Dell bought Zing, an ex-Apple start up that already powers Sandisk offerings.)

[quote author=“sleepygeek”] Dell hums a new Ditty

And they’re using Enderle as consultant on the project.

(A year ago, Dell bought Zing, an ex-Apple start up that already powers Sandisk offerings.)

This must be significant news: it comes from BANGALORE [which sounds like a great name for a Porn site].

[quote author=“willrob”]This must be significant news: it comes from BANGALORE [which sounds like a great name for a Porn site].

Is this the same chimp that put out the SJ is ill FUD?

No it’s from WSJ really, but it’s paid content. If you’re on AAPL Sanity, you can read that here .

[quote author=“wheeles”][quote author=“willrob”]This must be significant news: it comes from BANGALORE [which sounds like a great name for a Porn site].

Is this the same chimp that put out the SJ is ill FUD?

Very same monkey.

d

[quote author=“sleepygeek”] Dell hums a new Ditty
And they’re using Enderle as consultant on the project.

The reason they “hired” Enderle as a “consultant” is purely because of his media connections - the guy is a motor mouth and rent-a-quote machine and unashamedly a paid shill. I would almost bet money that he has absolutely ZERO input or influence over anything whatsoever to do with this project.

By hiring the guy as a “consultant” they’re assured of him talking up their game, continuing to lambast Apple and making convincing (to the guy in the street - your average CNBC viewer) noises about how well thought-through and considered Dell’s “DJ Ditty 2.0” strategy is.

What really stuns me is that Dell would so publicly acknowledge they are so utterly clueless that they’ve have to pay a PR consultant who has spectacularly failed to accurately predict IT trends to help them design this undoubtedly-POS product. They might as well have said: “We can’t design our own products, and we have no idea what people want from them, so we’re going to tell people we’ve hired some dude who always gets it wrong with no product design experience whatsoever to help us design it.”

What happened - did the Enderle Group (Rob + wife) sprout an Enderle Media Player Consultancy Design subdivision or something? Who’s running it - his kids? 

Just about the most absurd announcement I’ve ever heard from Dell. To openly admit you’ve retained Rob Enderle to help you design a product for a market he has, on record, totally failed to comprehend has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. They should have just paid the guy his fees and not mentioned anything about him openly, and let Rob wheel out his usual anti-Apple crap on CNBC.. but having openly embraced him as a paid shill, who the hell is going to take anything he says about Dell’s plans seriously, knowing his track record, and knowing he’s just echoing his master’s voice?

Dumb dumb dumb. I’m not sure this rant belongs in the Jokes Topic, but then again, it really is a joke….

Edit: moved to own topic

Lest people forget, this is the same Rob Enderle who wrote about the iMac in 2005:

I’m not a fan of the current iMac, the PC in a monitor has been done before and the new offering has relatively poor ergonomics (when compared to the old iMac), is less distinctive, and is far less stable.  I live in California, earthquake country, and the old iMac was one of the most stable products in its class, the new one places the weight too high and relies on a base that is too narrow making it likely that it would fall.  Falling glass can be a huge hazard in a home late at night when you are trying to get the kids and family to safety during an earthquake.

And who predicted the failure of iTunes and the iPod with this:

Apple: Stop making the same mistake and license your technology.

For those who follow Apple, the biggest mistake the company made in the 1980s was the failure to license its user interface, which would have made it the PC standard rather than a niche player.

With iTunes, the company currently has the largest market share of any paid music service. But because it won’t license its DRM technology, its iPod only works with iTunes, and iTunes only works with one secure MP3 player—the iPod.

This is called customer lock-in. IBM made customer lock-in a cornerstone of its dominance until Microsoft showed that you could own a market through licensing.

Apple builds strong products that can compete on a level playing field, so the company doesn’t need to lock in customers to be successful. The lock-in strategy is one typically used by a company that knows it can’t compete on design or technology. Step up to the plate, Apple, and give your customers a choice. By doing so, you will expand your market opportunities

And who said the iPhone was all iHype:

Interviewed for a June 2007 article on ABCNews.com entitled “iPhone Fever: Not Everyone Buys the Hype,” Enderle pointed out several potential flaws. “The data experience is going to be very slow” and the device will not “match the experience shown on TV,” Enderle said. He went on to criticize the glass and metal body of the iPhone, saying that dropping the device would ruin it. Enderle also worried that without a physical keyboard, teenagers who tried to drive and text on the touch screen might “end up in someone’s trunk.”

Enderle: if you’re looking for the biggest tool in the box, you won’t find a bigger spanner than Rob Enderle.

Why would anyone want his advice? 

And this from a recent USA article about the problems with the iphone:

... ““Clearly, Apple is having manufacturing and software problems,” independent analyst Rob Enderle says. “A star product like the iPhone does a lot of great things for Apple, but when things go wrong, it can bring down the entire image of a company.”

Along with the new, faster and cheaper iPhone (originally sold for $599 in 2007), Apple introduced software aimed at consumers called MobileMe, which, among other things, is supposed to keep email, contacts and calendar entries in sync on PCs, Macs, and the iPhone.

MobileMe has been fraught with problems ? more than 70 bugs have needed repair ? causing Apple to post several apologies online. “It’s been a rocky road, and we know the pain some people have been suffering,” Apple said over the weekend.

Enderle compares the iPhone relaunch to Microsoft’s poorly received debut in late 2006 of Vista, the Windows upgrade that had consumers howling when it didn’t work as advertised.

“Vista wasn’t finished, and that’s what the iPhone feels like,” he says. “It’s been rushed onto market, even though it wasn’t ready.”

The lines are still long at stores, however, “because the buzz hasn’t caught up with the news,” Enderle says. “People line up for it, so it must be good. But that can’t last forever.”

Nice catch Chas - what a tool that guy is

We need to throw him a sock party.

[quote author=“Mayor Quimby”]We need to throw him a sock party.

We need to let him disappear back under a rock.

[quote author=“ChasMac77”]The lines are still long at stores, however, “because the buzz hasn’t caught up with the news,” Enderle says. “People line up for it, so it must be good. But that can’t last forever.”

To which I retort: “The word count is still long, because the media can’t find anyone who can churn out rent-a-quotes as reliably as Rob Enderle. The networks and publishers line up for him, so he has to be good, but that [misconception]  can’t last forever.”

Surely?  :o

I mean Christ, if you were going to wish a Whipple Operation on anyone, it would have to be Enderle, right? Saying that, he does look a little thin. Do you think he might be “sick?” Oh no! Enderle has <insert-amateur-prognosis-here> and won’t be able to design the new Dell DJ Ditty 2.0 - quick - sell DELL now - their chief strategist is losing weight and won’t be with us much longer!

/dripping sarcasm .. or is it venom? Whatevaaa

I honestly believe that these guys and gals figure that nothing will stick to them in this day and age. We are so bombarded by news that the avg. Joe can’t keep track of who said what and when they said it. They get people’s attention with negative crap but by the time the facts come out, we’re on to another topic. It works on WS and it works in DC.

We really could use an analyst/pundit/paid shill scorecard for the world to see…

I agree but Enderle is special.  He was a HUGE backer of HD-DVD (which was a disaster) and has been wrong, what 98.75% of the time?  His reputation is a mess in many places.

[quote author=“Mayor Quimby”]I agree but Enderle is special.  He was a HUGE backer of HD-DVD (which was a disaster) and has been wrong, what 98.75% of the time?  His reputation is a mess in many places.

Hmmmm….

And whose idea was HD-DVD? Let me think…

Oh yes that would be the people who think that the Zune is the answer to the iPod.

[quote author=“sleepygeek”] Dell hums a new Ditty

And they’re using Enderle as consultant on the project.

(A year ago, Dell bought Zing, an ex-Apple start up that already powers Sandisk offerings.)

Some interesting background on the Apple Executive (VP Mac Hardware Engineering) that was responsible for Zing