Dell's Della Site--Condescension as a Brand Attribute?

Apparently Dell finds tremendous market potential in the female Luddite demographic, evidenced by Della, the company's new microsite designed for idiots women. Encouraging women to "Simplify Your Life with Technology" (as if this is a groundbreaking idea), Dell describes in the "tech tips" section five ways to use a netbook, including such helpful suggestions as "tools like Gyminee.com help you track your workouts and reach fitness goals" and "you can download the free Adobe Digital Editions software to manage your eBooks or access more than 28,000 free books at Project Gutenburg." (There used to be references to cooking and housekeeping sites too, but they are now gone from the list; my guess is there were probably a number of consumer complaints.)

A few notable observations on these suggestions:
1. 3 of the 5 suggestions are directions to websites (or software downloaded from websites); so essentially Dell is touting the advantages of the Internet, not anything specific about their line of netbooks. All netbooks access the Internet--that's why they're called NETBOOKS. Unless Dell assumes that their target market is dumb enough to think that Internet access is a feature accessible only through Dell products, why not use this Tech Tips section to discuss proprietary technologies unique to Dell?

2. The most tech-centric suggestion in the list is "Add storage to your netbook with memory cards or memory keys." Besides the "duh" factor here (seriously--even most mobile phones and all digital cameras these days have card slots for expanded memory--do they really think the concept of a memory card is new to women?) , why not at least explain what the different types of memory cards are, and more importantly, which ones are compatible with Dell netbooks, and how to use them? When I think of tech tips, I expect instructions on how to keep a computer from overheating, how to replace a broken hard drive, troubleshooting software glitches...you know, stuff that's actually technical.

3. No mention whatsoever about work productivity--though plenty about blogging, working out and reading e-novels. Now granted, anyone who uses a computer for hardcore programming or memory-hogging business applications wouldn't be using a netbook as a primary device anyway, but to have no mention of work at all implies that Dell thinks its netbook users are exclusively ladies of leisure--is that the impression Dell really wants to make, especially given how hard the company has worked to build its reputation in the business computing space? More importantly, why does Dell exclusively dedicate Della to netbooks? Aren't there women who would also want a fast, powerful (and hello--more expensive!) full-sized laptop?

I realize I may be a bit oversensitive about this--but for me, the Della website seems like the computing equivalent of going to a car dealership, asking the salesperson about fuel efficiency and horsepower, and being told "This car has three cupholders--and it comes in blue!" Granted, a lot of technical jargon can be intimidating, and maybe women are more technophobic overall then men (I haven't really looked at the market research). But the extent that Dell dumbs down the content of Della makes me think that they're either intentionally targeting the most technophobic, simple-minded women possible (in which case, what does "Our customers are idiots!" say about the Dell brand?), or worse, they think the gender divide relative to computing is so great that ALL women need to be approached in such a condescending way in order to sell a netbook.

Either way, bad move, Dell.