Lifestyle choice
Packard Bell has chosen this year's big European consumer electronics show - IFA - to unveil a bunch of new PCs it plans to launch on the same day as Microsoft releases Windows 7 - 22 October.
Regular HEXUS.channel readers will be aware of the rebrand Packard Bell (PB) underwent earlier this year; positioning itself as a ‘lifestyle' brand. Perhaps conscious of what a nebulous term that is, PB's country manager spoke to us in front of the TV cameras to flesh-out the concept.
In summary, PB is trying to position PCs as consumer electronic devices, more like a games console or TV, rather than the sum of component parts and arcane metrics that the PC industry has traditionally used to describe its products.
"PCs are becoming more and more a commodity, essential devices in everyday life. Consumer electronics should offer entertainment, office productivity and communication on-the-go," said Emmanuel Fromont, PB Vice-President.
There's no doubting the appeal of such an approach. The company that has been the envy of the PC industry for several years is Apple, which as well as being hugely successful with hand-held consumer electronic devices, has marketed its Mac computers in a consumer electronic style and has reaped the rewards.
By focusing on style and function, as opposed to components and performance, Apple has been able to command margins for its Macs that other PC makers can only dream about. Having acquired PB at the start of 2008, Acer has decided to try the Apple approach with it. It will be interesting to see if it works, and if any component makers join the party.
