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Dell speaks out on infamous Apple quote

by Mike Schramm Oct 18th 2011 at 9:00PM

Dell CEO Michael Dell spoke at the Web 2.0 Summit, and he discussed his infamous quote regarding Apple. Back in 1997, Dell famously said that if he were put in charge of Apple, "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." Nowadays, given all of Apple's success, it's easy to laugh at Dell's thinking. But Dell today says the quote "was misconstrued." In fact, he says, he was asked the same question a few times, and when he finally answered, it was from his point of view not as a potential Apple CEO, but as the head of Dell, which is where he says he belongs.

"The meaning of my answer was that I'm the CEO of Dell, I don't think about being the CEO of any other company, I'm not a CEO for hire, so if you asked me what I'd do for any other company, it's not really something I think about," he says today. Dell in fact says he has great respect for both Steve Jobs and Apple. "Obviously Steve will be missed and was a friend."

Well, OK then. That makes Mr. Dell sound pretty reasonable, actually. Of course, even if he was CEO of Dell and Apple, he'd still have been smart to keep the company going (and no matter what he says, Apple fans will probably always use his quote as an example of why you should never vote against this company), but sure, thinking of himself as head of Dell always, he'd have good reason to go ahead and shut the company from Cupertino down.



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Dell CEO Michael Dell spoke at the Web 2.0 Summit, and he discussed his infamous quote regarding Apple. Back in 1997, Dell famously...
 

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VanillaSpice

retcon (ret'kon) n., v. tr., abbreviated form of retroactive continuity. The common situation where a new story 'reveals' things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the 'facts' the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that a whole season of 'Dallas' was a dream was a retcon, as was Michael Dell later suggesting that his original reply to a question about what he would do as CEO of Apple Computer was actually answered from the perspective of what he would do with Apple Computer as CEO of Dell.

October 20 2011 at 11:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gooniebird

Mike must really like the taste of his own feet.

October 20 2011 at 8:44 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
hmcnally

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/technology/16apple.html

"Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve."

Yeah, Steve misconstrued it too.

October 19 2011 at 10:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
D.B. Cooper

iMac out in 1998. No clunky tower and massive monitor and yards of cables.
Of course he didn't want the competition.
Dell even has or had customized mobos with odd corner cutouts for no real reason except to curtail swaps to better hardware.

October 19 2011 at 7:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Woodshow

That quote is Michael Dell's legacy. Sure, he's a billionaire and founder of a big computer company, but he's best known for his quote about Apple. Evidently that hurts so much that he felt it was necessary to give a speech about it 15 years later. Ouch.

October 19 2011 at 6:58 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
Clark Tiberius

Hopefully Dell didn't get dizzy from that spin he just failed attempting! I remember that time frame as well, and as others stated already, Apple wasn't healthy, Dell was just rubbing salt in the wound back then.
Great monitors, agreed!

October 19 2011 at 2:16 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Clark Tiberius's comment
Woodshow

You're exactly correct. It wasn't just that MD was wrong about Apple, it's that it was a mean-spirited jab. He was thumping his chest by kicking a competitor when they were down... and now that things are different, it's time for some bandaids.

October 19 2011 at 7:02 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Jonathan Badeen

I call BS. He meant it the way it was interpreted. At the same time, that isn't laughable. He was talking about a company which was months away from bankruptcy. Nobody in their right mind, besides Steve Jobs, could have seen their miraculous return to profitability and dominance.

October 19 2011 at 1:36 AM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
thanatos

"F**K Michael Dell" -Steve Jobs

October 19 2011 at 12:45 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
Kin Hou

Nice twist there, Mike.

October 19 2011 at 12:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Len Williams

What a crock. He's just trying to make himself not look so bad in light of the outrageous quote being so completely wrong. Back in the day, he was convinced Apple was "doomed" and was very clear about it. Now, instead of saying "wow, I was completely wrong about Apple" he tries to put a spin on it to make himself look a bit better. This is just PR folks. Smoke and mirrors.

October 18 2011 at 11:21 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
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