The BBC have reported that Intel have opened a competition to build a sexy PC. The PC design will be judged on style, functionality and features. Entrants are encouraged to “think outside of the box”. Ha. They’re taking this very literally aren’t they?
Well style, functionality and features are all what industrial design is about. No one does it, currently, better than Apple. If it’s not enough that Intel processors have made their way into the most gorgeous computers available today, Intel want to make PC’s gorgeous too.
Business Week recently ran an article about the man credited with being the master in this area, and a personal hero of mine, Jonathan Ive. In an interview at the Radical craft event (good article by Core77 here) Ive spoke about the “craft of design”. I mean, this guy talks to masters of Katana construction in northern Japan to learn about how to work metal. All of that goes into the design of an Apple computer. As Ive puts it “It’s heavy on the thinking and light on the implementation”. I could rapidly adopt that as a new mantra. 
So, the winner of Intels’ contest is going to have to be bloody good.