Tag: dell

Dell CEO Kevin Rollins says that Apple isn’t “in the same league” as Dell, and that he isn’t worried about the iPod and Mac mini. “It’s interesting the iPod has been out for three years and it’s only this past year it’s become a raging success. 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,” he said. “Well you don’t hear about the Walkman anymore.

Apple remains the category leader in attracting unique visitors to its Web site, despite a dramatic surge in visits to Dell.com in the last month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. “In the week ending Dec. 12, compared with a month earlier, the number of unique visitors to Apple’s site declined from 4.9 million to 4.6 million. Meanwhile, Dell climbed from 2.7 million unique visitors in November to 4.1 million in the most recent period.” Read More

Dell is expected to introduce a new portable music player on Thursday that is aimed at the market that Apple’s iPod mini currently dominates. According to CNET News.com, the Dell Pocket DJ made a brief appearance during Bill Gates’ keynote at Microsoft’s digital media event yesterday.

Dell has announced a new promotion that aims to get iPod users to switch to the company’s Dell DJ music player. In “A Deal that Rocks,” Dell is offering a 15GB Dell DJ for US$99 after mail-in rebate to consumers who send in an iPod for “recycling” for a limited time. The press release for the promo also takes a couple of jabs at Apple, noting the DJ’s longer battery life and support for more than one online music store.

Dell on Monday cut the price of its digital music player by 20 percent in an attempt to compete with the industry leading iPod. The 15GB version of the Dell Digital Jukebox, or DJ, was cut to US$199 from $249, and the 20GB model was dropped to $279 from $299. Apple’s 15GB iPod is priced at US$299, while the 20GB iPod sells for $399.

Michael Dell will give up his position as chief executive officer (CEO) to Kevin Rollins in July. “Rollins, currently Dell’s president, has been running the day-to-day operations of the company for some time, while Michael Dell has spent more time focusing on his company’s strategic initiatives,” reports CNET News.com. “As part of the decision, which Dell said in a statement was made Thursday by its board of directors, Rollins will become president and CEO on July 16, at the company’s annual meeting of shareholders.

According to the Cox News Service, Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell had “nothing to say” when asked about HP and Apple’s new iPod/iTunes alliance on Thursday. How’s that for being caught off guard.

Dell stopped reselling Apple’s iPod in mid-November, about two weeks after the company launched its own MP3 player, the Dell DJ. “We’ve stopped selling them permanently,” said Mary Fad, a Dell spokeswoman. Both Apple and Dell declined to explain why the two companies scrapped their reselling agreement. “The iPod is the number one digital music player on the market and is available at thousands of retail locations and online,” Apple said in a statement.

Fortune’s Peter Lewis has written an amusing article on “Dell’s new Bizarro version of Apple’s iPod,” called the Dell Digital Jukebox (DJ). “Coming from the square world of Dell instead of the hip world of Apple, it’s bigger, heavier, and clunkier than Apple’s sleek, suave, elegant iPod,” writes Lewis.

Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell recently said that his company’s research and development (R&D) division is very comparable to that of Apple. In fact, Dell has more workers and spends more money than Apple in R&D, despite being known for rebranding products and using many OEM parts. “We have 3,600 folks in our R&D division and spend half a billion dollars a year, similar to the amount Apple spends,” Dell said. “Just because we sell a whole lot more doesn’t mean we’re bad.

As expected, Dell on Thursday announced that it would launch an online music service and begin selling a digital music player.

Dell plans to announce a 15GB hard drive-based MP3 player, dubbed the “Digital Jukebox,” next Thursday, according to IDG. “Apple Computer has received a great deal of critical and commercial praise for its iPod MP3 players, now available for Macintosh and Windows systems,” writes IDG’s Tom Krazit.