This was first leaked by Engadget and I had to chuckle.
Imitation – is it truly the highest form of flattery?
After spending a few years working for Dell myself I know that this is not uncommon. I can’t tell you how many times during our product and site reviews one of the slides in the presentation deck was an Apple.com screenshot.
I got sick and tired of this but the borg won, again… and again.
I mean, just compare the two homepages:
Dell.com
Apple.com
It’s all there from the top to the bottom: Top nav, large product shot (we call this “Product as Hero”), design break, business call-outs, legal copy, yada yada yada.
Sure, it works. And sure, at the end of the day no one is really going to care (I don’t), but it’s telling, isn’t it?
I think the Church could learn a thing or two and especially this: It’s ok to live in both the innovative/unique camp and the copy/systematic camp. There is no right or wrong to this technological equation – just make it work for your demographic, your ministry, within your context of leadership, culture, and historical context (see the POST Method for developing a robust Social Media Strategy for Ministry), and then go execute well.
Done and done.
Oh dell… How you wish you were apple.
I really detest Dell and everything they are and create. It’s ok, it’s a personal opinion based on many years of fact and having to fix their dire bits of machine.
However, in this case I will sort of rise to their defense. I recently posited on my blog (for those that care: http://www.churchtechy.com/2010/04/reality-check/) that “there are only so many ways you can present data” and when it comes down to it, Apple does not own that. The fact that another longstanding tech company uses a similar layout only serves to prove my theory right.