Business Insight Zone

Michael Dell on Apple, 1997:

“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

Apple’s performance for the 2007 quarter just passed:

• Apple Rises to a Record on Macintosh Sales, Outlook
• Apple results top targets, Mac sales strong

Dell’s performance for the 2007 quarter just passed:

• Dell shares fall 10% on poor results
• HP grabs punishing lead over Dell in PC market share

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s commentary on same, 1818:

. . . “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

~

* Not really, of course. Dell’s middle name is actually Saul. Which is no help at all for the writer trying to evoke something poetic about the problems at Dell’s company.

Category: Executives, Technology