Dell's CEO dismisses iPod as a 'fad'

[LaMerVipere]

Dell Chief Executive Kevin Rollins is dismissing the iPod as a "fad" and a "one-product wonder" and claiming the new Mac Mini won't dent the PC market.

In an interview with Silicon.com at Dell's headquarters here last week, Rollins said that the number of headlines Apple grabs does not worry him and that the company isn't "in the same league" as Dell.

"It's interesting the iPod has been out for three years and it's only this past year it's become a raging success," said Rollins, who is also Dell's president. "Well, those things that become fads rage, and then they drop off. When I was growing up there was a product made by Sony called the Sony Walkman--a rage, everyone had to have one. Well, you don't hear about the Walkman anymore. I believe that one-product wonders come and go. You have to have sustainable business models, sustainable strategy."

But Rollins was careful to add that this wasn't meant as any kind of disparagement of Apple. "They've done a nice job," he said.

"This (the Mac Mini) might be an interesting new product, but I'm not really believing this is going to turn the industry upside down."

Apple announced its new $499 entry-level Mac Mini--which is aimed at tempting wavering PC users to the Apple camp--last week, while Silicon.com was visiting Dell's headquarters.

But given Dell's historical commitment to aggressive pricing in the PC market and its dominant position in the United States, Rollins was, not surprisingly, unimpressed with the Mac Mini.

"It might take some here and there, but Apple's market share in the global computer business has really shrunk pretty far," he said. "Where they've been making success recently is not in the computer business, but in the iPod music business. So this might be an interesting new product, but I'm not really believing this is going to turn the industry upside down."

full story may be found here (http://news.com.com/Dells+Rollins+dismisses+iPod+as+a+fad/2100-1042_3-5540063.html?tag=nl)

[sjpetry]

To bad they can't come out with any product wonders. :rolleyes: :p

[virividox]

and the wheel was just a novelty item

[Counterfit]

I read that yesterday. If the iPod's a fad, what does that make the Dell DJ? :rolleyes:

[sjpetry]

I read that yesterday. If the iPod's a fad, what does that make the Dell DJ? :rolleyes:

The what? Sorry I only buy quality products. :p

I used my friends Dell DJ and it felt cheap. :cool:

[BakedBeans]

if he really wasnt bothered then he wouldnt have commented,

bill gates isnt throwing stupid remarks around... why? well i bet if you asked him then he would say "yeah, apples make great products - fantastic" but he might also say "yeah - grat products, sorry if i have to cut this interview short but i ned to check if we have 95 or 96%market share" he really never needs to worry

but dell dont seem to think that-dispite the "fad" claims

[patrick0brien]

-If I were to ask Kevin a question, it would be "Define 'Raging Success'"?

According to all of the maket research available, the iPod has been the market leader for all but the first month of its existence.

I call this the result of the classic Michael Dell School of Spin. Tying anecdotal and relative terms to another to try to make a fact out of it.

[BornAgainMac]

It is a huge mistake to under estimate your competition.

[patrick0brien]

-Y'know what?

A new thing occured to me: I the iPod is such a "fad" and a "one-product wonder" as he says he is (go with me a sec and for a moment, let's throw out all of the shouting at the rain Dell has done at Apple these last few years ), why is Keven even bothering to acknowledge it's 'insignificant', "fad" existence in the first place?

Hmm, methinks someone is unnerved.

[sonyrules]

Now where have i seen this before ... Let me think

Kevin Rollins is up Micheal Dells a**

Steve Balmer is up Bill Gates a**

Must be a PC thing..... They must like being a**holes.. who knows

[Littleodie914]

Bah... Dell's just jealous nobody likes that "DJ Thing" ;)

[Apple Hobo]

Filthy hypocrite. I wonder how many dPods Dull has sold. Probably not many. How about those cheesy color plates Dull used to offer on their notebooks? Must have been another Apple fad that they had to rip-off.

I had to laugh when my sister told me about all the Dulls in her office dying prematurely (I think the office's Dull server died after just a few weeks of use. :p).

[Mechcozmo]

According to all of the maket research available, the iPod has been the market leader for all but the first month of its existence.


Actually, I'd cut it closer to "After 3 weeks, it was a market leader and has been."

Just wondering...
Who's recently been ranked the WORST for customer service?
Who's been ripping off Apple's designs for how long now?
Who's counting down until the "Dell DJ Flash" is released. 256MB for $99 but it holds 10,000,000 at 1 bit/second, has no screen, and looks so much like the iPod Shuffle that if connected to iTunes, iTunes will actually mistake it for an iPod? ;)

I think we know the answer.

[asphalt-proof]

H emakes interesting point: That its only the last year of its three year span, that its actually been a hit. This flies in the face of what a fad is. A fad is usually something very new that flashes and then is gone in a month or so (possibly a year but that is stretching it). The iPod just keeps getting stronger the longer its been in existence. That's the opposite of a fad... that's a legacy.

Oh, and he is right about one thing: Apple is NOT in the same league as Dell. Dell is just a minor leaguer with one trick: Low prices on cheap crap. Apple is the big leagues with an arsenal of innovation and style. I agree with patricko'brian: I think he is a bit unnerved. Why? Because while it won't dent MS hold on the PC world, it could knock off a signficant percentage of Dell's business.

[jaromski]

yeah i think the mac mini thing has to piss off dell. they know how the ipod sells (and how their fresh innovative dell dj design DOESN'T) and it has to give the board some pause...but in all honesty i don't think apple is going to kill dell with the mini design. (i would like to be proved wrong here) it could displace a percentage of sales for dell which could really hurt them. dell is a the defacto low-cost ****-box producing king and their revenue is more a function of sales volume than per unit profit. is that whole enconomies of scale thing. but if apple starts cutting into their volume then they should be very very worried...

possible? yes. probable? not likely. the unfortunate fact is the first product usually wins out even in the face of latter combatants with superior products. (unless microsoft goes after your market. if that happens they let the small companies do the R&D for new products then come in after and mop up) there is just so much inertia in the windows machine that while mac could be a drop in replacement for some, there are still many apps that are windows only. it sucks. i would love if mac supplanted windows but it ain't gonna happen. and i know we have virtual pc, but it sucks...bad. it isn't a solution as much as a stop-gap measure.

still it would be great if apple sticks it to dell and see how they counter. perhaps it is their time to step up and become, dare i say, innovative?

jaromski

[codycartoon]

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO dismisses "Dell" as crap.

-cody

[obeygiant]

It is a huge mistake to under estimate your competition.

he has misunderestimatied apple.

[obeygiant]

ipods are as much a fad as VCRs.

[dsharits]

Dell Chief Executive Kevin Rollins is dismissing the iPod as a "fad" and a "one-product wonder"

Watch out. the railroad industry said the same thing about automobiles. Now, which one do more people use for transportation? Not that I expected anything more intelligent from Dell.

Daniel

[roadapple]

What is an ipod? That was a question a coworker asked me the other day and I had to stop and think about it. "its a portable hard drive that you can store music on and play it like a walkman, only it holds thousands of songs, in fact my whole cd collection" He was unmoved, and when i thought about it, it did not seem like such a big deal. But there is more to it then that.

I think the ipod may be a fad, if you can say the walkman was a fad even though most people still use them or a diskman. What is not a fad is the idea of digital music (itunes) managed by the user. The ipod is a practical use of this idea. How many regular users would rip all of thier cd's or download files if all you could do was burn mix cd's or play them with your computer?

The question is will we still be using ipods in 3-5 years as mega walkmans? If so, the ipod will have the same fate as the walkman, and I look forward to whatever replaces it. But the use of digital media, the underlying power of the ipod, is not a fad.

[Inspector Lee]

Who's counting down until the "Dell DJ Flash" is released.

Not to mention the Dell Deejay Photo and the Dell MiniPeeCee. All that innovation boy (inserts brow-wiping "Whooo!"), them are great days they're livin'.

As long as Dell has the ignorant masses snatching up its products, deeming everything Dell "cutting edge" and all that rubbish, as long as people continue to use or more accurately put up with Windows because everybody else does, they can freely take potshots at Apple.

The unsavory tincture of disinformation and ignorance that exists about the Macintosh platform, coupled with Apple's to-date unwillingness to really push the OS and get after people, are the roadblocks.

For instance, I had a co-worker ask me the other day if jpegs were recognized by Macs. :eek:

[Mechcozmo]

Not to mention the Dell Deejay Photo and the Dell MiniPeeCee. All that innovation boy (inserts brow-wiping "Whooo!"), them are great days they're livin'.

For instance, I had a co-worker ask me the other day if jpegs were recognized by Macs. :eek:

Oh, I forgot that Dell hadn't already released a Photo version of their DJ. Oops. Oh well.


I've had people ask me that too. I told them that I can open them, edit them, email them, and not have my Mac crash on me once. They seem impressed, especially when my PowerBook instantly wakes from sleep. :D :cool:

[topicolo]

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO dismisses "Dell" as crap.

-cody
not that it's any kind of "disparagement" for Dell :)

[Xtremehkr]

A fad you are trying and failing to compete with.


The Dell DJ looks like the torso of the Robot from Lost in Space. Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

[joeswinehart]

he has misunderestimated apple.

So will Mr. Rollins be sworn in for four more years at the helm of Dell?
eek! I didn't vote for Kevin Rollins...either.

[bartelby]

Reminds me of IBM and their '5 computers' thing.

[anubis]

Anubis dismisses Dell CEO Rollins as a giant self-collapsing vortex of hypocrisy.

[Lead Belly]

A fad? The Sony Walkman?

Pet Rocks were a fad. The Sony Walkman was a cultural phenomenon. It changed the way nearly every person on the planet listened and interacted with music. It was launched in the USA in 1980, and within two years most major record stores had largely stopped selling, you know, records. It sold 50 million over 10 years and 150 million units total through 1995. This "fad" sold 100 million units between it's 10th and 15 (or 16th) year of existence.

How many fads last 15 years?

The Walkman's era ended largely because it led directly into the Sony's more lucrative Discman. The Walkman gave Sony (alongside Phillips) the financial, physical, and market capital to carry consumers into the age of digital audio and the CD. Maybe someone at Dell would like to take a look at the company Sony was prior to 1979 versus the company they became post Walkman launch. Also consider the plausible bubble effect it had on an already existing CBS/Sony Records, specifically, and the music industry as a whole.

Maybe the explosive growth was just a coincidence.

[virividox]

dell sucks!!! but i still have an old dell monitor which i love haha

[LethalWolfe]

A fad? The Sony Walkman?

Pet Rocks were a fad. The Sony Walkman was a cultural phenomenon. It changed the way nearly every person on the planet listened and interacted with music. It was launched in the USA in 1980, and within two years most major record stores had largely stopped selling, you know, records. It sold 50 million over 10 years and 150 million units total through 1995. This "fad" sold 100 million units between it's 10th and 15 (or 16th) year of existence.

How many fads last 15 years?

The Walkman's era ended largely because it led directly into the Sony's more lucrative Discman. The Walkman gave Sony (alongside Phillips) the financial, physical, and market capital to carry consumers into the age of digital audio and the CD. Maybe someone at Dell would like to take a look at the company Sony was prior to 1979 versus the company they became post Walkman launch. Also consider the plausible bubble effect it had on an already existing CBS/Sony Records, specifically, and the music industry as a whole.

Maybe the explosive growth was just a coincidence.

You beat me to it. Saying the Walkman was some meaningless fad shows how (pick your fav term) ignorant/stupid/desperate/out of touch this guy is.


Lethal

[Counterfit]

Anubis dismisses Dell CEO Rollins as a giant self-collapsing vortex of hypocrisy. I'm writing that one down :D

[johnnyjibbs]

Hmm.. the reason of the soar-away success of the iPod only in the last year or so is because the market is only just maturing. Digital music is still a niche market knocking on the door to the mainstream. Even 10 million sales of iPods so far doesn't compare with the almost 3 million Nintendo DS handheld units sold since it was launched in November.

He's only saying that because of sour grapes. And "fad" or not, he wants a piece of the action, otherwise they'd have never released the Dell DJ. Tell me that one is based on a long term stable business strategy. :p :rolleyes:

As someone else said, NEVER underestimate the competition.

[MacAficionado]

How many updates and upgrades has the Dell DJ had since it's intro?

My brother, bought a Dell DJ, he has to pay to get the software (Musicmatch) to encode to WMA or MP3. He slipped without consulting me, but he was in town for the holidays. He will be the owner of a new iMac G5, iPod of unknown capacity and seller of a NEW (in the box) Dell DJ on eBay. :)

[Baron58]

Mmmm.... Fads....

"This shaped-ski thing, it is bullshiat. A fad. And a stupid one."
--CEO of Rossignol, about 10 years ago.

Now, shaped (parabolic) skis are all there are. And Rossignol makes awesome ones (e.g. my 170cm Bandit B1's). That quote belongs up there with "640k of RAM should be enough for anybody."

[Ringo]

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO dismisses "Dell" as crap.

-cody



It's quite an error to surestimate your competion
:cool:

[aloofman]

What he seemed to dance around without saying is that:

1) Apple has a history of innovating without truly cashing in on it. The great work that Apple has done in the past has not made them the industry leader, at least in terms of sales and revenue. We're pretty early in the iPod story.

2) Dell is a money-making behemoth compared to Apple and it would take many, many iPod-caliber products to threaten Dell.

Both of these points are true. The "one-product wonder" bit is just gamesmanship. And he doesn't need to be arrogant to think that the Mac Mini isn't going to sink him any time soon.

The comparison to the Sony Walkman is a mistaken one though, at least in trying to make his point. Of course the Walkman has been superceded in the last quarter-century. But the Walkman was a huge hit at the time, changed the way a lot of people listen to music, established a generic name for any portable tape player with headphones, and made Sony a consumer icon that it maintains today. If the iPod proves to have that significance over time, then it WILL have a major impact on Dell.

[michelle]

Kevin Rollins should put more energy into helping create and promote quality products rather than saying s*** about Apple. He's only trying to convince himself.

[evoluzione]

"When I was growing up there was a product made by Sony called the Sony Walkman--a rage, everyone had to have one. Well, you don't hear about the Walkman anymore."

um, how many did they sell????? you don't hear about it any more because technology changes, and products evolve. what an imbecile. :rolleyes:

[sushi]

The Sony Walkman was a cultural phenomenon. It changed the way nearly every person on the planet listened and interacted with music. It was launched in the USA in 1980, and within two years most major record stores had largely stopped selling, you know, records. It sold 50 million over 10 years and 150 million units total through 1995. This "fad" sold 100 million units between it's 10th and 15 (or 16th) year of existence.
Please make me a Xerox of this article. So you make a copy of this article for me.

But wait a minute, you don't have a Xerox, but rather a xyz machine. Why did I say Xerox? And why did you know to make a copy? Because Xerox is synominous with copy.

This is what is known as a cultural icon.

Now the Walkman. When a tape driven mechanism device was popular, people would say that they wanted to purchased a Walkman. It could be a Sony, JVC, Panasonic, etc. portable tape player. But the concept was a Walkman. And a great concept that it was!

Now the iPod. Already the term iPod is synominous with portable MP3 player with a HD. Of course the Shuffle may change that a bit. My point is folks already go into stores looking for an iPod, be it an Apple, Dell, RIO, etc.

The iPod has reached iconic status.

That is not a fad Mr. Rollins, you twit! :D

Rather it is a cultural icon. And don't you wish Dell had something similar?

Based on market share percentages during SJ's MWSF presentation, Dell is not competing in this arena. Yet, they have a huge portion of the PC market...

...maybe this just frustrates Dell a little bit?

Come to think of it, maybe they wish they had a deal with Apple like HP does.

Sushi

[ThomasJefferson]

Sure the ipod is a fad, but it has also become a significant cultural icon. I have never met anyone who bragged about his/her Dell. But mention an ipod in a conversation ...

I place it somewhere between my Captian Midnight Decoder Ring (when I was a kid) and the Hula Hoop. Not quite as significant as the Hula Hoop. Because the first time I saw Sally Ayers using her hula hoop in the school yard (6th grade), well ... it rocked my world.

:D

[ejb190]

Kind of interesting that the interview started off with asking about the Mac Mini. Rather than dismiss a single product and stopping there, we have a case of a CEO going on to attack the entire company.

Sure the Mac Mini might not be a threat to Dell. (Heck, it just came out. It could be the next Cube for all I know.) But to shift the attention from the Mini to attack the iPod was a) an intentional move to capture headlines and rally the "Apple Haters" or b) a momentary lapse of judgment.

Tough to tell without seeing the entire interview.

And I agree with several of the previous posts about the Walkman not being a fad. I still have one and was just using it yesterday!!!! Besides, what "fad" goes through several revisions and gains momentium with each one?

[solvs]

Tough to tell without seeing the entire interview.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=105483

[groovebuster]

Now the Walkman. When a tape driven mechanism device was popular, people would say that they wanted to purchased a Walkman. It could be a Sony, JVC, Panasonic, etc. portable tape player. But the concept was a Walkman. And a great concept that it was!
... and the concept wasn't from Sony in first place. They copied it and pushed the guy who invented it into a lawsuit about the patent he had on it. Since he didn't have a lot of money (unlike Sony) and Sony was delaying the lawsuit in every way possible, he was bancrupt (all the lawyer bills) after a few years and he couldn't afford his lawyer anymore. Therefore he had to give up and Sony won even though they actually broke the law. At least they turned around now and paid him some money:

Article about it... (http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5226735.html)

And this is actually only one of many cases when the patent was held by a little company or a single person and a big company just delayed the lawsuit for so long that the other side had to give up.

groovebuster

[cr2sh]

I was all set to dismiss what the Dell CEO had said... and then I watched the keynote.
To see Steve walking around on stage with that stupid necklace for that shuffle, I had to wonder... is this a fad?
I don't think it is, but that necklace is dumb.

[wrldwzrd89]

I was all set to dismiss what the Dell CEO had said... and then I watched the keynote.
To see Steve walking around on stage with that stupid necklace for that shuffle, I had to wonder... is this a fad?
I don't think it is, but that necklace is dumb.
It's a lanyard - it's not meant to be fancy. I don't use my iPod at all, but I do see quite a few people around my area toting iPods - it's definitely become a cultural phenomenon, if nothing else.

[pellucidity]

Article about it... (http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5226735.html)

And this is actually only one of many cases when the patent was held by a little company or a single person and a big company just delayed the lawsuit for so long that the other side had to give up.

groovebuster

I would read the article differently: there's no allegation in there that Sony actually took the idea from him, only that he'd had it and (apparently) failed to commercialise it. Moreover, in the end, it seems like he wants to go after Apple - now, what connection does a belt that play tapes have to an iPod (Correct Answer: as much as his lawyers can argue based on vague phrases in the original filing). Bottom line: at first glance this guy seems less like a wronged inventor and more like an SCO-style IP opportunist.

[groovebuster]

Ooops... sorry, I forgot!

Now that he wants to go after Apple he must be bad! ;)

Do you really know and get what patents are about?

A little hint... when a company develops a product, they have tons of lawyers checking if there are patents that collide with the product they are developing.

The original idea was not from Sony. It doesn't matter if they knew before if there was something similar invented by that guy or not... A patent is about an idea and not about an actual product. How do you know that Sony DIDN'T take the idea from him because they found the patent accidently? And Sony didn't want to pay for using his idea, this is a fact! That's all what the story is about.

But hey, he must be bad... he wants to after Apple now. ;)

groovebuster

[BoardCertified]

There's an interesting irony here:

The Dell CEO states that Apple is not in the same league as Dell, but let's look at the companys by market share of number of computers sold:

Apple market share rises slightly

By Jim Dalrymple

Market research firm International Data Corp.'s (IDC) latest research numbers indicate a small increase in Apple's market share in the United States. For the current quarter (Q1, 2002) IDC shows Apple as the number six computer maker with a 3.48 percent market share. This is an increase of 0.4 points over Q4 2001 and a 0.25 point increase year over year. Worldwide, Apple is in ninth place with a 2.4 percent market share.

In comparison, computer maker Dell is in first place in U.S. market share with 26 percent and worldwide with 14.3 percent.

Well, it seems market share puts Dell in the lead, but lets look at company by net worth:

Dell 2004 figures from Forbes.com:
Sales $47,260 mil
Net Income $3,125 mil
Profit Margin 6.6 %
Debt/Capital 7.9 %

Apple 2004 figures from Forbes.com:
Sales $8,279 mil
Net Income $276 mil
Profit Margin 3.3 %
Debt/Capital 0.0 %

Damn it. Well, wait a minute. Why is 7.9% in red? Let's see if you guys caught that in your responses.

Finally, to make me feel better, let's look at iPod vs. Dell DJ figures again! :D

Research company The NPD Group said in a report released Tuesday that various versions of the iPod accounted for 92.1 percent of the market for hard drive-based music players, up from 82.2 percent a year ago. Players from Creative Technology and Digital Networks North America's Rio were a distant second and third, with 3.7 percent and 3.2 percent of the market, respectively.

Hmmm... I didn't see Dell DJ in that little paragraph, maybe that's because:


Dell Offering $100 iPod Trade-in Program For DJ Customers
Posted by Kent Pribbernow on June 30, 2004 at 01:36 PM
Category: Portable Audio & Video

It looks like Dell is gunning for Apple's media player market share. The company has now launched a new incentive program for Dell DJ buyers, which allows iPod users to trade-in their audio player for a DJ...knocking a full $100 off the sticker price. The question is...who in the hell would want to exchange an iPod for a Dell DJ? That's not a trade-in, it's a trade-down. Like trading in a Chrysler Crossfire for a Chevy Cavalier. What exactly would iPod switchers be gaining, besides slightly more storage capacity? A less popular and DRM restrictive media format, horribly inferior media jukebox software, less intuitive software and music store interface. Am I missing something here?

In closing, I think it's safe to say that Dell is ****, and since most people can only afford to purchase ****, Dell is currently on top. At least people appreciate good MP3 players. ;)

[caveman_uk]

Yeah...the ipod may well end up being a 'fad' but not before Apple makes a ton of money out it ;)

[srobert]

And when (if) the iPod goes out of style, chances are that Apple will be ready to launch the next must-have portable music player.

[RealDeal]

Owned my first Dell laptop recently (18 months old)- the worst computer i've ever owned (since 1980), and btw not cheap compared with decent Toshibas. Win Xp, all updates, latest MS office, a virus-crash-monster (terrible support- guess mimiking MS- xbox support a joke (threw it away!)). 4 times daily regular crashes and lost work very conservatively costing 200 days x 4 x 30 mins (each cdn$20 fee)==> lost income per year= cdn$16,000. (Best consulting rate nearer $240k lost annually for crashes).

Yet, worked on the largest global virtual reality oil-gas-maintenance simulation using lotsa Dell and cool toys a few years back... guess they've lost their grasp on quality.

Ad..schmads- try and opt out of Dell junk mail and their phones and web don't work!!! These guys are going the way of Wordstar and Lotus- once worthy, but now have lost their way.

Today (at work)- created Word doc on old Dell, saved on disk, to new Dell, tried to open and failed; then to (guess) 4 year old Apple mac G3- opened straight-away and able to print. Warm-fuzzies for Apple...

Sept 04- my first Apple since '82 (iMac G5)- totally delighted, no crashes (fingers crossed) 120 days, doing usual work. Never mind the dollars, i *like* computers again...

So delighted, buying more Apple stuff, and (sadly/goodly) encouraging many hundreds annual university students to consider Apple as a cost-effective, user-focussed, creativity-leveraging, stable and secure, business tool rather than waste dollars on the MS myth. For crikey's sake- even different versions of Word don't reliably talk to each other (guess why Grady Booch, the OO guru switched to Apple despite being on IBM payroll)...

Real shame the UK subs use MS (guess a few nuke warheads will land accidentilly) [...my aeropsace engineering background would never allow such folley...]

[gwangung]

Ooops... sorry, I forgot!

Now that he wants to go after Apple he must be bad! ;)

Do you really know and get what patents are about?

A little hint... when a company develops a product, they have tons of lawyers checking if there are patents that collide with the product they are developing.

The original idea was not from Sony. It doesn't matter if they knew before if there was something similar invented by that guy or not... A patent is about an idea and not about an actual product. How do you know that Sony DIDN'T take the idea from him because they found the patent accidently? And Sony didn't want to pay for using his idea, this is a fact! That's all what the story is about.

But hey, he must be bad... he wants to after Apple now. ;)

groovebuster

Um, you got it exactly backwards. Patents are awarded for specifc implementations of ideas.

[Lacero]

Um, you got it exactly backwards. Patents are awarded for specifc implementations of ideas.

Like digital downloads via a master server to client. I believe some obscure company owns that patent, and they are actively, although futile attempt to sue any computer trying to infringe on their patent.

[dejo]

Like digital downloads via a master server to client. I believe some obscure company owns that patent, and they are actively, although futile attempt to sue any computer trying to infringe on their patent.

Yeah, too bad my patent was for analog downloads. For some reason, it never really took off. ;)

[MattG]

I read that yesterday. If the iPod's a fad, what does that make the Dell DJ? :rolleyes:
A really, really poor attempt at matching the iPod's success :)

[ReanimationLP]

A Piece of ****. I think everyone at Dull is smoking the magic dragon. Probably way too high to see how Apple is killing the Digital Crapbox.

[sushi]

I read that yesterday. If the iPod's a fad, what does that make the Dell DJ?

A really, really poor attempt at matching the iPod's success :)
Or a poor attempt at trying to be part of the fad! :eek:

Sushi

[Mechcozmo]

Yeah, too bad my patent was for analog downloads. For some reason, it never really took off. ;)

iHad one for telepathic downloads. But iCouldn't make it work...

[rt_brained]

If Windows were pulled from the shelf tomorrow, Dell and the rest of them would be out of business.

How much R&D does Dell put into the Windows OS? How about innovative products? Or software titles? When was the last time Apple ripped off anything designed by Dell?

Dell's business model can be summed up in one sentence:

Feed the pigs what they'll eat.

[hob]

[doublepost]

[hob]

Now where have i seen this before ... Let me think

Kevin Rollins is up Micheal Dells a**

Steve Balmer is up Bill Gates a**

Well they're the lucky ones... Steve Jobs has most of the guys on this forum up his :D

But seriously, he's starting to sound like Gollum "not listening!"

Just burying his head in the sand!!

Hob