Dell: Putting On Stickers Is Costly

Buying a new computer is an exciting event for most people. Many consumers find it fun to unpack and put together their new PC, expecting it to look clean and flawless. But many are disappointed when they find tacky Microsoft and Intel stickers cluttering an otherwise sleek design.

The stickers either fade and peel themselves off over time–making the computer look even worse–or the consumer has to delicately and painstakingly peel off the stickers by hand in order to make the obtrusive logos disappear.

Finally a company with some influence is doing something about it. Dell, the PC giant, is having talks with both Microsoft and Intel about omitting vicarious advertising from its machines.

Dell doesn’t care that other companies’ logos are seen on their computers as much as it cares about saving some extra dough. For them, putting the stickers on each computer takes a lot of time, and therefore money, especially considering Dell is the world’s largest PC maker, currently supplying more than 16 percent of the worldwide PC market. As the Chinese and Latin American markets continue to grow, putting those pesky stickers on each machine becomes what Dell has called “a significant bottleneck.”

Certainly Intel and Microsoft are going to fight to keep their logos on every machine they power–including Dell’s–so stay tuned. But perhaps our days of picking off pesky logo stickers are numbered.