'Intel Inside' No More

Randall311 writes "The Inquirer is reporting that Intel is getting rid of its tagline 'Intel Inside' and plans to run a huge logo launch this January. Apparently the new logo has been seen in internal documents already. 'Intel Inside' has been with us since 1991. I guess now all thats left to update is the 'Idiot Outside' that doesn't know anything about using a computer."

Comments

Outside the asylum

[dangitman]

Hmmm, I think the connection might be a bit less direct than that, but still relevant. Intel's marketing genius was to focus customer's attention on the mystical "inside" of the computer. This is not normal for consumer products, which are usually designed by the world's top designers and aestheticists to appeal to all the senses. but computers were just a really ugly, space-wasting box. Intel succeeds from diverting the customer's attention from the crappy hardware, the crappy OS and the crappy applications by positing this "magical" force inside the computer. So, the machine can be clunky and uncomfortable to use, but the customer is reassured by the idea of a magical processor that is worth more than gold.

Apple was the only one in a position to challenge this strategy. They made the computer itself to appealing and enticing, that you don't care what processor it has, or if the OS is not compatible with Windows. This was moderately successful, but back in the original iMac days, "what's inside" counted a lot more than it did today. Computers in general were still slow for the tasks they did, and small differences in processors made a huge difference to how much work you actually got done.

Today, processors are "fast enough" that most people won't notice a difference in their productivity with a faster processor. What matters more now, is ergonomics, compactness, and noise levels. And the overall usability of the machine, of course. not only that, processors seem to be at a plateau where they are not getting faster quickly - and an AMD, an Intel, or an IBM PPC isn't an issue for most people.

I think Intel saw this coming - and hence the Centrino campaign. Also, Intel have been trying for years to stimulate OEMs to make more interesting-looking and innovative PCs. They release the "concept PC" ideas in the hopes that someone will manufacture it. It's been a total failure for them. OEMs weren't interested in deviating from standard cases - and Intel's concept designs sucked so bad that nobody would buy them, anyway.

Intel knows that Apple owns the outside of the computer, and they own the inside. Together, the companies are thinking through the box, rather than inside or outside it.