Dell CEO still doesn’t get it
In all seriousness, congratulations are in order to Dell for being
named Fortune’s America’s Most Admired Company. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s rip into Dell CEO Kevin Rollins
for a moment, shall we? ;)
He says, of the iPod: it’s “a one-product event. You can’t just have one product and then say you’re the innovative leader of the world. I’m a big admirer of everything [Apple’s] done. It’s phenomenal. But then to say it’s the world-beating wonder of forever? No, it’s not.” Yeesh, can you see the sweat beading up on this guy’s brow or what?!
Of course the iPod is not the be-all end-all device of all time (though it is right now! :)). But it’s not merely a “one-product event” either. Besides the fact that it has sparked a boatload of third-party cottage industries piggy-backing off of its success, the iPod ushered in the era of portable digital music. Regardless of whether you happen to prefer an MP3 player from iRiver or Creative, there is no disputing that the iPod delivered this particular innovation to the general public in a way that finally made sense. As such, the iPod stands squarely as a key device in the middle of a technological transition to a new way of thinking about media. Phenomenal, indeed. Need a hanky, Kevin?
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brendon said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
I think he's really just harboring some silent resentment over Steve's wardrobe. Can you imagine the Steve getting caught dead looking like Kevin here? They Dell execs just feel bad they aren't the cool kids at the lunch table.
Reply
Bruce said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
Wow...you can almost taste the sour grapes! I wonder how far down the food chain the Dell DJ is?
Reply
Chris K said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
He's right, to an extent. Apple produced the iPod and have been selling it for years. The mini is a minor variation of the iPod. The iPod shuffle is the first indication that Apple wasn't a one-hit wonder as an MP3 player maker.
Apple's computer designs don't follow that logic, of course.
I doubt Dell is worried about anything Apple does. To abuse the car metaphor, Dell sells commuter cars and work vans. Apple sells luxury vehicles. They're in a completely different segment. The only way Apple can hurt Dell is bringing Windows users to the Mac platform. And there's not much Dell can do about that problem, except maybe launch a "luxury" brand with Apple-like designs for the Wintel platform.
Reply
barb dybwad said 4:41PM on 10-07-2005
I think Apple is starting to work against the "luxury" pigeonhole by offering a desktop machine for $499 and a digital music player for $99. When you're seeing Apple products being sold at Target, Wal-mart and 7-11 of all places - that's not exclusively a luxury market anymore.
Also - Dell is one of those companies that sticks to the center of the road and will continue to hold steady - *until there is a paradigm shift* in the overall picture. If any company stands a good chance of introducing a paradigm shift into personal computing and home electronics, it's Apple.
Reply
Will said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
I look at the Apple website everyday; I love everything they make. It may seem strange then to learn that I am typing this on a new Dell PC. I have always had a PC. Every time it comes to getting a new computer, I want an Apple, but usually the price or more so the trouble of switching deters me. Apple still has a long road ahead of it when it comes to making that "paradigm shift" and I do not think the answer is solely resting on lower-priced products. If Apple were to license OS X to PC manufacturers, we would perhaps see a period where machines were factory-equipped with both platforms with software integration to allow the use of bothlike many people have multiple browsers now. Then perhaps we would see an accelerated shift toward OS X exclusivity and the lovely shiny boxes which now contain it
Reply
Enrique Segre said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
hi will:
Here we go at it again,
It is not possible to have a computer with both OS'es at the same time.
Apple works very well because they make the OS and the hardware . Also they publish very strict specs to make other hardware work with their OS.
Whereas windows does not they try to be everything to everybody and you have seen the result.
Enrique
Reply
Kevin said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
What truly big-scale innovative thing has Dell done? Significantly established the online sales channel and manufacturing processes in order to lower the prices of PCs such that they have become commodity items. Although sales volume also plays a big role in that.
Now for Apple:
1. Apple II significantly established a solid beachhead for personal computers.
2. Macintosh OS significantly established graphical-user interfaces.
3. Laserwriter (along with Pagemaker) significantly established quality desktop publishing.
4. Appletalk made known peer-to-peer networking (but didn't significantly establish it - TCP/IP did that).
5. Newton made known the handwriting PDA (Palm established it).
6. Powerbook significantly established portable computing (twice - Powerbook 100 and then Titanium).
7. iPod+iTunes significantly established portable digital music.
8. The story is still to be told about the Mac mini.
There's probably more that I'm forgetting.
Apple is not a one-hit wonder when it comes to paradigm-shifting products.
Reply