By now, most companies are finding out that the customer is increasingly in control. Well informed customers, that is. Marketing departments and pricing professionals are discovering that the Internet is allowing the kind of mass communication and sharing of ideas in real-time that puts the power of purchase and even design into the hands of the customer. Soon, long gone will be the days when companies won't take the needs of customers -- from features to prices to support -- as the number-one priority when deciding to bring a product to market. In fact, the internet has shifted, and will keep shifting, more and more power to the end customer.

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has made strides recently in this arena, and almost all of it was after company founder Michael Dell returned to the CEO spot at the end of January as Dell's quarters and future outlook were growing shakier and funkier every month. First up was the Dell IdeaStorm blog, where customers could talk about product wants and concerns they had and "vote up" the most popular suggestions to a point where Dell would actually take a look at them. Result? A vocal minority (but a growing one) wanted Dell to offer the Linux operating system on its machines. Not a few months later, that happened.

When a blog entry surfaced recently that provided tips on how to best score a deal on certain Dell computer systems (using tips from a former sales manager for the computer maker), one of Dell's attorneys went for the jugular and demanded removal of the information. Bad move. Information is power, and this piece was probably empowering Dell customers to get the best for their money using information that made them more informed about their purchase. When Dell realized that it was 2007 and the customer was actually in control of what they wanted to buy and when they wanted to buy it, a Dell manager apologized to the website (Consumerist) and admitted that the company "blew it" by trying to censor the information using legal tactics. Yep -- Dell blew it, but it looks like the company is learning from its mistakes. Power to the people.