Sexy PCs
We got a chance to have a one-on-one chat with Sobon after her presentation and, after praising the wisdom of the New England Patriots in getting a first round draft pick for 30 year old defensive lineman, she was keen to expand on the concept of the PC as a consumer electronics device.
We agreed that Apple has long set the standard for marketing PCs and has the profits to show for it. But it's not just high-end products that can be made stylish - Sobon even confided that she thinks desktops are sexy!
The rise and evolution of the netbook segment over the past year or so, albeit with AMD as just an interested observer, has shown that, regardless of price point, people expect their mobile products to look good, especially since many consider them an intrinsic part of their image. "Notebooks are all about appearance," said Sobon.
With that in mind, AMD looks like it's going to make a really big push behind its second generation thin-and-light platform, as indicated by the slide below. As ever with AMD, there will be concerns, internally and externally, that AMD has the resources to make the kind of noise it needs to with these initiatives.
In summary, what AMD is trying to do is reminiscent of Packard Bell's rebrand under Acer ownership. Yes, there's a lot of marketing speak and vague brand associations, and red, but if either of them have any success in persuading consumers to chose a notebook based on how it looks and what it can do, rather than the clock speed of its CPU, then they'll be happy.
