I saw this and thought I would share it.  As small business partners we need to decide what the "Small Business" means and tell our partners and customers.  It is not about sticking a label on something that fits everything, but actually customising it for the real small business customer.  And I don't mean the less than 1,000 person business, but the sub 100, sub 50 and even sub 10.  It is worth reading the rest of the article to see what is said about brand and laptops.

What's In A 'Small-Business' Label?
Lisa LaMotta, 09.12.07, 6:00 AM ET

It's one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book: Make the same product, but sell it to a new audience. That's what large retailers and manufactures have been doing lately to tap the lucrative small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) segment.

Last month, for example, Best Buy (nyse: BBY - news - people ) added a Professional Series label, which signifies products putatively geared for small businesses, though many have mass appeal as well. Dell Computer (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) insists its new Vostro line of notebooks is perfect for small fries, while virtually all the options are available on other machines. And AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ) sells the same telephone and cable connections under the SMB banner as they do for plain old consumers.

Can you blame these guys? See-through as this strategy sounds, it's also very effective--and perfectly legal. As long as companies aren't making any false claims (after all, these products aren't not appropriate for small businesses), the Federal Trade Commission has no beef.

<snip>

To be fair, many products bearing the "small business" moniker work just fine. But it's a bit of a stretch to claim that many of them are specifically tailored for that segment. “A phone line is a phone line," admits John Reagan, vice president of business marketing for AT&T.

Some so-called small-business products deserve the distinction more than others. Take Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) small-biz version of its ubiquitous Office software package, called Windows Office 2007 Small Business. While very similar to the standard Office package, the small-biz version comes with three additional features, including nifty accounting software that tracks overdue invoices and pending payables; a business contact manager; and a publishing program useful for making marketing materials. You'll pay a bit more--Office 2007 Small Business costs $450 vs. $400 for the standard Office package--but it's a decent value. Bought separately, the accounting software alone would set you back $150.

In other cases, the distinctions have less to do with how the product works and more with how it's sold or supported while in the field.

<snip about laptops>

What's In A 'Small-Business' Label? - Forbes.com

ttfn

David