Dell CEO Kevin Rollins
said his disparaging words shouldn't be taken as disparagement. Whatever. Here is what he actually said: "It's
interesting: The iPod has been out for three years, and it's only this past year it's become a raging success," he
said. "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."
The iPod is definitely faddish—I'll give him that. But it's wrong to say the MP3 player is faddish as a product niche.
Or, if he's saying that the MP3 player is no more sustainable than the Sony Walkman was, then he is wrong to call the
Walkman faddish. The Walkman was revolutionary, much more lifestyle-altering than MP3 players are. Without the Walkman,
there would have been no template for the MP3 player, and who knows if there would be an iPod now.
Kevin Rollins (Dell CEO) Disses the iPod
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Well, I think he is right, to a degree. The iPod "craze" is definately a fad. It's not gonna last forever. The iPod had definitely reached "Walkman" status, how long Apple can stay at the head of the pack is a different question. I figure by january next year it will have started to drop off, unless Apple is aggressive. (I figure music price drops will be next, now that they have a cheaper model out)
There will certainly be MP3 players, just as there were portable music players before and after the Walkman. They just aren't all from Sony, and MP3 players aren't and won't all be from Apple.
And that will be a good thing. Competetion will bring out cool features. If Apple can ride the wave, they'll do well, and if they can't....well, they sure gave it a good run.
Posted at 5:58AM on Dec 19th 2005 by W. Ian Blanton
1. He might call it a fade, but guess what. Dell puts out a version of the Ipod too. The Dell Jukebox. Go figure. Had to get his dig in but yet still make money in the market on the product. Typical.
Posted at 5:58AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Rick