Our comments and trackback policy You Link We Follow, You Comment We Promote

Dell has launched a new netbook computer today that they are calling Dell Inspiron Mini. The laptop is a bare bones system that is specifically designed to be a take-it-everywhere Internet companion. According to Dell’s own blog:

In case you’re new to the Internet and therefore unaware of the deafening advance buzz, allow me to introduce this compact, take-it-everywhere Internet companion. Purpose-built to keep teens, tweens, travelers and “Tweeters” connected, the Mini is optimized for that “30-minute connection” experience – blogging, surfing, e-mailing, chatting, viewing photos, videos and music – you get the idea.

The important news here is not the miniature size of the laptop, but the huge opportunity that this system has presented to the cloud storage startup Box.net. Dell has teamed up with Box.net to offer exclusive web-based file storage, access and sharing to the buyers of Dell Mini. Dell users would be able to access Box.net via a special page created on Box.net exclusively for Dell users.

This reminds me of a similar deal that IBM struck with Microsoft and allowed to software maker to get hold of IBM users by default. All of us know what that deal did to Microsoft. I am reasonably sure that this deal will result in similar outcomes for Box.net. The deal will allow Box.net to reach Dell Mini users without any marketing or ad expenditure. A whole lot of these people would belong to businesses and getting the first people on board from a company would mean that you would have inroads into the organization. Who knows how many gates this will open for Box.net.

This is exactly why becoming a default is such a killer move any startup could perform. I am sure the rest of the cloud computing startups are toast unless they outwit and outperform Box.net in such partnerships. Because at the end of the day ease of access to a service triumphs ease of use of a service, that no one could find.

While you are at it, you may want to see a video demo of Dell Mini embedded below.