Dell CEO Kevin Rollins isn’t impressed by the iPod. He uses a clever comparison: "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."
His point seems perplexing. The Walkman has sold 300 million units, still ships around 20 million units per year, revolutionised the way we listened to music, and built Sony into the world’s most respected consumer electronics firm. Should the iPod have similar effects on consumer behaviour and on Apple’s business, then this would appear to be a moderately significant development.
Sell Dell; buy companies not led by morons. In the unlikely event that you can find one.
"Well, you don’t hear about the Walkman anymore."
Is he senile or something? Walkman is almost up there with Hoover, still. That little thing that plays CDs – normal people call it a ‘CD Walkman’ even if it’s the cheapest, nastiest Goodmans job from Argos…