Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and the all-new and about-to-be-released Adamo slim laptop PC is just the latest in the computer maker's attempt to slam the PC industry with as much laptop PC variety as possible to help it gain consumer market share.

After years of not recognizing the shift towards the retail consumer space and the huge movement from desktop PCs to laptop PCs, Dell's efforts in the last year have been admirable. The competition has continued to outsmart it and grow more, but Dell's efforts to catch up to Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) have borne some decent fruit. Is it enough?

Dell's Q3 period in 2008 saw the company generate 32% of its revenue from mobility products, which means laptop PCs for both the business and consumer markets it serves globally. Dell's Jeremy Bolen indicated that the consumer movement towards laptop PCs helped Dell realize that it needed to be a bigger, faster player in the space.

That's pretty obvious, and the competitors that truly win are the ones that spot trends before they happen and get ahead of the curve in the direct or retail markets -- or both. Dell can't solve tomorrow's problems by the same level of thinking that created them (credit: Albert Einstein). It better roll out the innovation blanket across its company -- not just in products, but in strategy.

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is going to be testing new waters soon. Since trying to become a loss leader within consumer laptop PCs in the last year, the second-largest seller of PCs worldwide (for now) will be introducing a $99 netbook PC soon.

Netbooks are really just miniature laptops that feature lower power and lower performance specifications, but are ultimately portable. This new category of PCs was the hit of the last part of 2008, and many industry watchers consider the netbook category to be the hot growth prospect for PCs in 2009.

But a $99 offering? How is that possible? Well, it's based on the same principle as the cellular phone industry. Those who shell out $99 soon for a Dell Inspiron netbook PC will also be required to sign up for a two-year wireless data plan through AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) at a total cost of $350. So, in the end, they'll pay roughly $450 for that new Dell netbook.

When Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) released its latest Inspiron and Studio laptop PCs over the last year, the colorful lidbacks it made available were a great idea to entice consumers tired of the same-old boring black and charcoal laptop PC designs. Dell's idea wasn't anything new really -- Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has had this idea for years with its iPod music players and practically invented the idea with the original iMac design (one computer - many colors). The trick for Dell was allowing all these color choices while at the same time trying to enter retail at a furious pace. How can a retail store stock all those different colors and ensure they all sell? That's a conundrum.

While Dell still sells its Inspiron and Studio computers direct from its website, I've found that the prices generally can't match what a retailer would be offering. Take any regular Sunday newspaper ad and you'll see it -- low, low prices on many entry-level laptop PCs from all the major PC makers -- and Dell is right there with them. Competition does bring prices down for the consumer. The problem with Dell is that it can't keep all those lid colors in stock at any retailer without the possibility of a few colors not selling as well and the retailer asking for credit due to clearance sales or anything else it has to do to move out older, non-moving product from shelves.

Dell's IdeaStorm consumer feedback website is really a neat model for taking suggestions from its customer base. After reading this consumer thread, I have to wonder -- why can't Dell design its consumer laptops that accept the capability of "snap-on" color lid covers? Perhaps even keyboard-surround color changes as well? These molded plastic parts would be very cheap to have made, and offering them for free for three months would be the best (and cheapest) PR to get consumers used to the idea that they could instantly transform that new Dell laptop into a color of their choice within a few seconds. This concept worked incredibly well with the cellphone -- why not the laptop PC?

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has done an admirable job of taking back control of its sales in recent quarters. After getting stomped by Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) in the last 18 months, the Round Rock, Texas company has installed itself in over 10,000 retail locations across the U.S. and in other countries and has started growing its marketshare back. Gone are the days of the direct-only business; in are the days of a multi-channel selling model. Nowhere is this more evident than in Dell's laptop PC sales.

The company has taken back the number two spot in global laptop PC sales from Taiwan's Acer by growing its marketshare for such products to 15.1% of all global laptop PC sales as of its last quarter. In addition, that figures includes a whopping 45% growth in its year-over-year laptop PC shipments. It's amazing what a few quarters and retail availability can do to one's laptop PC sales, yes?

Dell is making steady process to see if it can inch back into leading quarterly PC sales on a global basis with HP, but it won't be easy. The Palo-Alto competitor just announced more than 50 new products this week (its biggest launch ever within that segment), and many of the newly-announced products are new consumer laptop PC designs. HP, the current king of the laptop PC hill with over 35% of the market, won't give up that spot -- or even a single marketshare point -- easily. But then again, Dell's efforts so far have shown great results. the race to the top of the laptop sales world is on.

Will Dell Inc.'s (NASDAQ:DELL) famous build-in-house model continue to work for its laptop business? That is the billion-dollar question of the hour as laptop computers continue to gain in popularity over bulkier and non-portable desktop computers. With larger screens, bigger hard drives and faster processors, laptops are increasingly desktop replacements.

While competitors like Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) and Gateway have their machines built for them in Taiwan or China by third-party manufacturers like Quanta and Wistron, Dell continues to build the majority of its laptop computers itself, according to Cnet. This allows Dell customers to custom order a laptop system with the exact specs needed instead of purchasing a pre-built computer from HP that comes in a variety of configurations. The disadvantage for HP is that it rarely knows which configurations will sell nicely and which will be duds -- hence the possibility of inventories piling up, which is a huge drag on any company in any business.

Dell's build-to-order process eliminates much of this unknown factor. The problem is that building laptops is much trickier than building desk-top computers. They require special parts and precise engineering. Workers must be highly skilled and trained for a wider variety of difficult tasks. Can Dell keep up its world-famous custom-build strategy for laptop computers as they overtake desktops in popularity and units shipped? That's a huge question, but if that strategy can be made to work, Dell may just show up the entire industry once again.