Della: Dell for the Belle

Rikki Endsley

ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange

May 12, 2009 GMT
Rikki Kite

Introducing Dell, now for women, too!

Dell recently rolled out the Della site, and plenty of women are not amused, including Jennifer Bergen, Jane McEntegart, Kristin Shoemaker, and Joanna Stern (who writes, "Guess what, Dell? Women ARE tech-savvy and shouldn’t be placed in a separate box when it comes to technology. We want options just like men, and notebooks that pack power, functionality and, YES, style.") Plenty of men have also written about the new Della site.

I guess the site is intended to be geared toward the female tech consumer, but the problem is that it feels, well, patronizing. For example, under Tech Tips, you'll find this bit of wisdom: "Once you get beyond how cute they are, you'll find that netbooks can do a lot more than check your email."

Now you might be saying to yourself, "Oh my gawd they are so cute! And they can do more than check my email?" So Della goes on to explain Seven Unexpected Ways a Netbook Can Change Your Life. According to Della, netbooks can help you "Get smarter" (you can turn them into an ebook reader, and reading makes you smarter), "Get healthier" (because you can track your exercise and count calories, because that's number 2 on our list of tech priorities, after all), "Eat better" (my kid isn't the only one pressuring me to cook now – dude, even Dell(a) wants me to do everything around here), "Get organized" (okay, you had me at "Get organized" – if a netbook vendor guarantees to get me organized, I'll crack open the checkbook... if I can find it), "Chill out" (even though I don't have time to get to the gym, I'm supposed to schedule relaxation on my netbook and take yoga video and meditation breaks during the day, even though the very thought of watching yoga videos on my netbook is stressing me out), and netbooks are also supposed to help me "Travel smarter" and "Stay in the cloud," but I lost interest after getting stressed out about chilling out to yoga videos.

What I don't understand is this: The Della site allows comments, but I'm not seeing any. Has anyone written directly to Dell(a) or tried to comment on the site yet? And if so, have you had any response from the company?

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Comments

  • della is a FAIL

    I find it insulting that Dell would not offer Ubuntu as an option on the woman friendly model where Ubutnu is offered on the general model. This is a FAIL. My mother and I both use Linux based netbooks and would not have it any other way.

    http://www.whatwillweuse.com

  • reader for my mom

    I've been trying to decide which e-book reader to get for my mom. I figured I would have to get her both an ebook reader and a laptop, so she could download things (now she downloads ebooks from http://www.ebook-search-queen.com/ ). Knowing that the Kindle doesn't require her to go to her computer, or even have a wireless network setup, makes my decision easy. For her needs, it is the ideal item. Thank you for this!

  • Only netbooks

    I'm confused. I clicked "Products" and there's only one product--a netbook. And here I was hoping they might be making nice 22" LCDs in a color other than black or silver. I really wouldn't mind a nice pastel or something!

  • It's only the beginning...

    Your blog entry inspired me to write one myself on the German web site http://www.linux-magazin.de...en_wohnen_ach_in_meiner_brust/. The blog entry was commented by Intel, they informed us about their work on something more or less similar, called "meinnotebook.de". I had no idea it existed.

    In fact at first sight it offers more or less the same stupid things. "Technically oriented" Women (marketing speech by Intel) blog about technical issues such as where to buy nice bags for their laptops or stylish screensavers.

    If you want to find the right netbook, you've got to answer three simple questions: Do you want to be more or less mobile? what do you want to do with it (options: play DVDs, write texts, write mails, surf the internet, videochat, watch TV, work on photos, play games)? Above or below 1000 Euros? That's it.

    The announcement claims that not only Intel is part of it, but also Samsung, Asus, Toshiba, LC and many sales companies are partnering as well, for example Amazon. So, ladies, be prepared for a really huge marketing campaign to follow this first step.
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