Michael Dell insulted Apple ten years ago, eats his words today
10 years ago, around ‘97/’98, Apple and Dell were worth about the same. It was then that Michael Dell was asked what he would do if he were CEO of Apple.
“What would I do? I’d shut it down,” replied Michael Dell, “and give the money back to the shareholders.”
10 years later, he’s forced to eat his own words as Apple’s market capitalization, $140.4 billion, is more than double that of Dell’s, $62.27 billion. Check out the chart below, courtesy of CNNMoney and Nasdaq:
I’m sure there are many who would’ve responded in similar ways. Apple was the computer world’s joke until Steve Jobs returned to introduce the iMac and iPod, but, oddly enough, it seems Michael Dell handled his money better in those past ten years as his net worth, $15.5 billion, is more than triple that of Jobs’, $4.9 billion.
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October 8th, 2007
[...] Brian Fitzgeraldâs Web Log wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [ Michael Dell insulted Apple ten years ago, eats his words today]10 years ago, around ‘97/’98, Apple and Dell were worth about the same … s joke until Steve Jobs returned to introduce the iMac and iPod, but, oddly enough, it seems Michael Posted in MAC.BLORGE.com ( 948 links from 100 sites) [...]
October 8th, 2007
you know what’s also quite humorous? Though Dell is still worth a penny or two, they have to outsource their customer support to countries that barely speak English, and build machines that are typified by hardware failure…and then there’s Apple. Oh, how the “mighty” have fallen.
October 8th, 2007
[...] Liber wrote an interesting post today on Michael Dell insulted Apple ten years ago, eats his words todayHere’s a quick [...]
October 8th, 2007
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptApple was the computer world’s joke until Steve Jobs returned to introduce the iMac and iPod, but, oddly enough, it seems Michael Dell handled his money better i… [...]
October 8th, 2007
Triston,
You know what’s also funny?
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/11/24/dell.call.centers.ap/index.html
Dell moved tech support for the higher quality machines back to the US 4 years ago. The low
dollar, price is the only consideration folks get the support they pay for. Just like most things in life.
“and build machines that are typified by hardware failure…and then there’s Apple. Oh, how the “mighty” have fallen.”
You keep spouting this Dell computers fall apart
crap, got anything to back this up besides fan boyism? Dell shipped 9.5 million units third quarter 07. That’s one hell of a lot of computers from a company that’s been around a couple of decades. You would think these people would have learned by now.Apple, who has dropped computer from it’s name, shipped 1.8 million for the same period. If you want to beat up Dell, subtract ipod, itunes and iphone revenue to compare “apples to apples”.
If you think Apple hasn’t had QC problems with LCDs, imacs freezing up etc….you aren’t paying attention. Lookee:
http://www.appledefects.com/?m=200607 Yes, I know it’s from ‘06. I could use Macfixit and link to Mac forums etc, but you get the point.
Apple makes great products and the turn around from 10 years ago has been amazing. Kudos to Steve Jobs for making technology better for all of us. It’s possible to make that point without resorting to unsubstantiated taunting.
Michael Dell made it possible to get low cost computers configured with the options people wanted. Prior to that, it was This-is-what-you-get retail machines. What he did from his UT dorm room changed the way people buy computers forever. 10 years ago, Apple was dying. What if Jobs hadn’t returned? What would Apple look like without the ipod? Still humorous?
October 16th, 2007
[...] the rest of this great post here [...]