Why a Sexy PC Doesn't Matter

Intel is running a competition for the sexiest PC. Moderately good loot is involved for the winner.

Intel must realize though that encouraging sexy design won't result in viable products for any manufacturer. Apple has shown that sexiness must be combined with attractive applications on a modern OS to create a "platform" - that platform then builds an image that has sexiness only as one of many features. Sony has shown how sexiness alone can fail - I consider Sony computers, especially the Vaio W, to be extremely attractively designed. Yet Sony, without any differentiator but sexiness, found that few were willing to pay a premium for sexiness alone. It's all about the platform.

Surely Intel knows all this and is simply running this contest as a form of marketing. Still, it seems to me that even if Intel is so enlightened, the rest of the PC industry hasn't yet woken up to the fact that simply running Microsoft on Intel or AMD won't allow any single company to trump the competition - even given sexy design. Rather, the only formula in the PC industry that works (lacking platform and brand) is cost. The big manufacturers seem to be content trying to undercut the other and when that cycle begins everything suffers - innovation especially.