Michael Dell once made a forecast related to the future of Apple Inc. that turned out to be incorrect. The founder and CEO of Dell Technologies predicted a bleak future for Apple on October 6, 1997, and said that he would “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders”, as per a report by Cult of Mac.
It was the time when Apple was struggling and had suffered its biggest losses in history. The Cupertino-based tech company’s clone Macintosh strategy had also failed to come to its rescue. Steve Jobs’ other company NeXT didn’t look to have bright prospects either. Also, the Apple CEO had no new products at that time to give hope to the company. On the flip side, Dell’s fortunes were soaring and as per the report, Michael Dell had “already made billions selling built-to-order PCs directly to consumers” at the time of making that quip about Apple.
Jobs did respond to the “rude” comment from Michael Dell at the next Apple keynote. “We’re coming after you, buddy!”, Jobs reportedly had said.
The tide did turn for Apple the very next year and it reaped in profits. Apple launched the iMac G3 in 1998, which was received well. Then Apple followed it with several gadgets over the years like the iBook in 1999, the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, gadgets that have helped make Apple the first tech company to reach a trillion dollar valuation. Apple also reportedly adopted a strategy similar to that of Dell by selling computers over the internet, which also helped.
In 2011, Michael Dell “clarified” his 1997 comment during a Q&A at TechCrunch’s Web 2.0 Summit, “saying that he only suggested he would close shop at Apple because he was so dedicated to running Dell at the time”, as per the report.
It was the time when Apple was struggling and had suffered its biggest losses in history. The Cupertino-based tech company’s clone Macintosh strategy had also failed to come to its rescue. Steve Jobs’ other company NeXT didn’t look to have bright prospects either. Also, the Apple CEO had no new products at that time to give hope to the company. On the flip side, Dell’s fortunes were soaring and as per the report, Michael Dell had “already made billions selling built-to-order PCs directly to consumers” at the time of making that quip about Apple.
Jobs did respond to the “rude” comment from Michael Dell at the next Apple keynote. “We’re coming after you, buddy!”, Jobs reportedly had said.
The tide did turn for Apple the very next year and it reaped in profits. Apple launched the iMac G3 in 1998, which was received well. Then Apple followed it with several gadgets over the years like the iBook in 1999, the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, gadgets that have helped make Apple the first tech company to reach a trillion dollar valuation. Apple also reportedly adopted a strategy similar to that of Dell by selling computers over the internet, which also helped.
In 2011, Michael Dell “clarified” his 1997 comment during a Q&A at TechCrunch’s Web 2.0 Summit, “saying that he only suggested he would close shop at Apple because he was so dedicated to running Dell at the time”, as per the report.
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