Michael calling Paul

Mike: Paul, what da heck is going on? I saw Apple's INTEL ad, it showed some fancy INTEL equipment, and the voice over was saying "dull little boxes".

Paul: Yeah, I know, I thought the ad is cool, they taped the newest tools we bought from Applied Materials. I assure you that Apple won't compete against you. Their OS is different.

Mike: But a lot of folks who saw the ad told me they heard "Dell little boxes".

Paul: Yes. Dull little boxes. I do agree Steve Jobs have some artistic sense, at least a lot of ladies think so. Of course, we men don't care, we only care about stuff like clockspeed.

Mike: You don't get it. That ad is delivering a subliminal message: we are dull.

Paul: You are dell?

Mike: No. Dell is dull!

Paul: Dell is dell? I don't get it, of course dell is dell.

Mike: He meant to say: We, Dell, D E L L, is, D U L L.

Paul: I see what you mean. Steve is smart, isn't he? But, I heard you told people before that he should shut down Apple and go home , he is probably returning the favour. Steve has bigger market cap than you now.

Mike: Paul, I take this seriously. Our brand is the most important asset we have. I talked to my lawyers. They think we can sue them on trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising and other grounds.

Paul: Trademark infringment?

Mike: Yes. Lanhan Act. Their use of the word "dull" is likely to cause confusion, and cause dilution of our trademark.

Paul: Indeed. When do you become so good at law? Did you study it in high school?

Mike: Paul, let's get back to the main issue.

Paul: One thing I don't understand, SUN had this ad about "DELL HELL", and you are not suing them?

Mike: I am not stupid. Suing them would be free advertising for them, I am not going to take McNealy's bait.

Paul: But you are upset about Steve's ad?

Mike: Most of my business is in PC, he is ruinning my bread and butter.

Paul: I see.

Mike: Do you have a part in this ad? Why are they putting it under "intel/ads/" URL?

Paul: Of course not. They came to our fab and shoot a video, the dudes in the bunny suits are not INTEL engineers, they look too good. You can see that right?

Mike: Okay. Is Jobs going to sell Windows PCes in their fancy boxes?

Paul: Well, I know nothing of such plans, but now that you mentioned it, it might be a good idea. We need some fashionable boxes to maintain market share.

Mike: Paul, let me remind you, we have 17% of the PC market, if Jobs gets a better deal, I am going AMD.

Paul: Mike, be honest with you, we can't cut prices any further, our unit share is dropping and our ASP is also dropping, we can't withstand more revenue falls.

Mike: But AMD is cutting prices like there is no tommorrow.

Paul: Sorry, I can't cut you more discounts, AMD's capacity is limited...

Mike: Good and bye now...