AFTER three years and £25 million, James Dyson has finally presented domestic goddesses and gadget lovers with an upgraded version of his vacuum cleaner.

The Ball, named after the spherical pivot on which the machine rests, is designed to allow the user to manoeuvre around corners, under sofas and between legs with minimum effort.

“For the same amount of effort you do double the amount of cleaning,” was Mr Dyson’s bold claim yesterday.

But such innovation comes at a price: the cleaner, which will be in the shops from Saturday, costs between £320 and £360 depending on accessories, making it the most expensive on the High Street and the equivalent of four of the ubiquitous “Henry” cleaners.

Mr Dyson said that such a tag was justified because consumers wanted “technical innovation” in their domestic appliances. The difference with the product, he explained, was that only minimal wrist action was needed to twist and manoeuvre the 8kg cleaner along awkward surfaces.

“With normal vacuum cleaners you have to shuffle around and waste more than half your effort”, Mr Dyson said. “This machine makes it easier not to miss things, it’s more logical, and it’s easier in terms of the effort expended.”

But when The Times tried the machine yesterday it felt oddly bulky and the key component, the flexible head, seemed to offer little that a standard cleaner could not. Despite Mr Dyson’s claims, it seemed hard to imagine that it could halve the amount of time it would take to clean the average house.

The launch of the Ball, complete with signature bright colours, follows the success of Mr Dyson’s original bagless cleaner. After just two years of sales, demand for the revolutionary “dual cyclone” machine has helped it knock the iconic Hoover brand off the top spot to become the market leader in America, where it sells 17 million annually. In Britain, one in three households own a Dyson, selling 6 million a year.

But it has not always received such good publicity. A Which? report last year said that Dyson vacuum cleaners “are below average for reliability again this year . . . We can’t make them Best Buys because of the chance that they’ll need a repair before time.”

One of the reasons often credited for the Dyson’s success is its unique design, with earlier models available in a range of colours.

However, Mr Dyson, who last year resigned as chairman of the Design Museum because of the rise of style over function, rejects suggestions that the “iPod factor” helped his machines’ success or that appearance plays a significant part in sales.

“I don’t think that appearance is important at all. Performance is 99.9 per cent of what it’s about. People don’t recommend vacuum cleaners on the basis of their looks,” he said.

The new machine, touted by the company as “the biggest vacuum cleaner innovation since 1993”, will be launched in the US later this month. Dyson also plans to target other key markets, including Japan and France, where it sells 6 million and 3.5 million machines each year respectively.

It was developed in its workshop in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, but will be manufactured in Malaysia.

www.timesonline.co.uk/talkingpoint
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