Leave the Appleness to Apple

I feel embarrassed for Dell as I read about the company's new effort to launch a line of so-called luxury products. Yikes, those are some tacky-looking products. Dell is like someone who is really smart and successful but still has no taste in clothes. You know who I mean--they're worth $100 million but wear Ecco shoes to a business meeting. The new "stylish" Dell machines show the same sad lack of style sense--which is a fatal flaw in a style product. Among consumer electronics companies, only Apple--and sometimes Sony--can pull this off. Dell needs to find another way to move its product mix into higher margin areas. Trying to equal the master marketer of style statements, Steve Jobs, is a dead end.