In case you didn't notice, Apple (NASD: AAPL), now sports a larger market cap the PC leader Dell (NASD: DELL); $72.1 Billion vs. $71.9 Billion.
Nicholas Carr passes along an excellent quote from Michael Dell, dated October 6, 1997:
When it comes to the state of Apple Computer, everyone has an opinion. And at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo97 here today, the CEO of competitor Dell Computer added his voice to the chorus when asked what could be done to fix the Mac maker. His solution was a drastic one. 'What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,' Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.
Om Malik offers a further meditation on the meaning of this moment, and dismisses the notion that Apple will collapse for the same reasons they lost their lead in the computer market 20 years ago:
The difference is the software that is being used to create a “user experience.” That user experience is what has helped iPod gain a mass market appeal. That user experience also stems from a tight marriage of the device, the music and the desktop software. Easy to buy, easy to load, easy to playback. The user experience is the new competitive advantage, not the chips etc. It is so ephemeral, that it is hard to pin down in a theory.
Why do people buy Diesel jeans or pay $150+ for a pair of Seven For All Mankind, when Gap and Levi’s do make perfectly acceptable pants? It is perception, and user experience. Peter Rojas, who edits Engadget was in town last week, and over a hot spicy dinner at Henry’s Hunan, he said something which is logged in my head - technology in the new porn, and iPod is the new rock star. As long as iPod can reinvent itself, like say Rolling Stones, then Apple has nothing to worry about. Apple stores are part of that experience as well. I think if you looked around in other industries, you could easily find the same parallels as Dell and Apple. Walmart and Target? Toyota & GM?
Though we've voiced skepticism towards Apple in the past, worry about their lack of own technology, and think that fashions could change quite easily, The 'Wart congratulates them and those who had the guts to stick with them.
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