Comments on: Dell's Rollins dismisses iPod as a 'fad'

"Fads rage, and then they drop off," says Kevin Rollins. As for the Mac Mini, he says, it won't "turn the industry upside down."

[gggg sssss]

Dell not so bad

I have over the years purchased hundreds of Dells, IBM, Compaq/HP, Leading edge ( remember them ) locally made clones. And 2 Aplles. Currently, every PC is chock full of generic, made in China parts. Even Macs use the same parts. A Western Digital disc is a western digital disk. There is no difference. Since hardware is a commodity, there is little benefit in paying more for a glamourous brand. Dell provides a good price point, with impecable delivery. Out of hundreds of Dells, I have called service 4 times. Never pay for extended warrantees - easier to fix yourself, even during the warranty period. Have you ever called HP? or Gateway? Or Joe FLyByNight? And anyway, if we are talking about bad support, arent we, teh users of CNET, of teh same geek class as the Dell Droids? How bad can we be?

Windows runs on every Intel/AMD pc, so of course they have MS on them. What else? If Apple sold OSX for the PC, as Sun is now doing, then maybe they wudl have more than a tiny market share. Maybe not. There does not seem to be a big rush to Solaris and look at what the fanatics used to say about it.

Just ordered 2 Dells yesterday. I expect to see them Friday. Remove teh free cr**pware, put them on teh LAN and noyt look at them again fro a year.

[Llib Setag]

Dude, your Dell Keyboard Scksu!

You must be typing on your "Sttae-of-teh-atr" Windoze IE / Dell Keebored with all of your typos!
(YES, the above was deliberately not typed correctly to make the point-irony)
DELL has the worst service record that numerous Consumer Reports & PC World surveys have reported.
Dells = Duds

[technewsjunkie]

Dell's MP3 player is an iPod knock-off

A quick look at the interface and external design screams "I am
an iPod"

Imitation is a form of flattery.

[fasteddiesa]

Bumped into the elephant in the room...

Since I live in Texas, economy-wise I'd hate for Dell to go under,
as it employs a bunch of my friends and fellow Texans. However,
I will NEVER purchase a Dell again as long as I have air in my
lungs and money (or plastic) in my wallet. I have personally lost
two hard-drives and my brother's laptop motherboard fried up. I
have a PB G4 and iPod Photo with a G5 on deck and I will
continue to ride this "fad" indefinitely, thank you very much.
Keep on making marked-down c**p and then let the market do
what the market will do...

walkman a fad?!!

A fad is something that sticks around for a year or two. Sony made millions and millions for many years from their walkman product, as did many walkman-clone companies. This guy is the president of the world's largest computer company? His comments on ipod and walkman remind me of a junior high kid who talks like he knows it all, but the wiser and older people around him realize that he doesn't really know that much and that he'll realize it once he grows up.

[stephenmeyer]

A Fad, huh? More Evidence of Backward Thinking

So Sony's Walkman was fad? Not really. For almost two and a half decades it was the portable music player of choice by the public until the 'Discman' and other portable CD devices took over.

The iPod is anything but a fad. It is the clearest signal yet that the public is moving faster and faster away from the CD format and into portable digital storage devices like the iPod.

If the iPod (and similar devices) are indeed a fad, then every electronics manufacturer at CES last week in Las Vegas plans on it being a fad for a long time. All the companies exhibited these devices and said "They are where the industry is going music wise."

What Mr. Rollins fails to recognize is that the future of all media is digital and more and more devices exactly like the iPod will be developed.
The Walkman faded away because the format it satisfied was analog tape. Why would iPods ever become extinct?

[ajbright]

Missing the point

First I want to make it clear I'm not all that impressed with either the ipod or the mac, but do recognise that both these products are good quality offerings, just very overpriced.

The point Dell is missing, is that although the ipod may well be a fad, like the walkman, it will continue to be recognised as being at the high end of the quality scale, when mp3 players become as common a purchase as walkmans were.

So when buying for your kids, you pick up the $20 version from whoever, as long as it includes most of the required functionality.

When buying for yourself, you pick up the $100 version - personally I think any music player that costs over $100 is a complete rip off, and eventually pricing will have to reflect it's limited purpose.

When choosing the top quality version for yourself, you are naturally going to go for a model with a strong reputation for reliability, quality of sound, functionality, and preferably something that has low maintenance costs (e.g. the batteries are not valuable enough to be a lure to thieves).

So, even though I am no great fan of Apple and it's products, even though there is no way I would replace my computer with a mac, or spend $250 - $400 on a glorified walkman, I do give credit where it's due. And that is that Apple's products should, and will be, at the top of the quality scale, and will continue to be one of the best selling mp3 players, even after the fad has faded.

Sony would hardly have continued to crank out walkmans if they weren't selling. What Sony did, and what I believe Apple will also do, is to position their product at the top end of the market, keeping the profit margins acceptable and keeping their reputation for top quality gear intact.

[System Tyrant]

Definition of FAD

a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal

http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=fad&x=0&y=0

I suppose the iPod design could be a fad, but not what iPod and iTunes idealize.

For that matter then Dell computers are too a fad. How long will Dell last selling fads. I do think though Mr. Rollin should look up the words he uses before using them. By definition the Walkman was not a fad. Portable music players are not Fads. How long Mr. Rollin stays as head of Dell might be a Fad.

So Mr. Rollin what is you comment on that.

[xpose]

Apple should be a magician

Kevin Rollins' comments reffering to Apple are not far from the truth. The ipod has already began its downfall, perhaps no one sees it yet? Other companys such as iRver and Creative offer products with more features and more importantly _realistic pricing_. Leave the 600 dollar color ipods to the apple fanatics and see the majority of the consumer market go elsewhere. As far as the mini mac is concerned, well, im still waiting for the smoke to clear from the magic show. It doesnt wow anyone, except apple fanatics. Has anyone heard of the AMD PIC? Granted it's not exactly the same. To top it off, the price of the mac mini is cheaper than some ipods! Did that hit a common sense bell in the fans of apple? No? I didn't think so. Well, a 600 dollar ipod to show pictures and play music, how does a company like this stay successfull with these products? Now they release ipod shuffle. Not being able to select the music you want to play is a good idea? Sometimes it amazes me how the consumer is wow'd by their magic show when if you look hard enough. . . its just smoke and mirrors. Don't get me wrong, the ipod is a great product. But clearly they dont know where to go next as far as innovation goes and will soon lose out to other competing mp3 players. I thank apple for getting us to this point.

What you fail to realize

Is that Apple has GAINED users. And people interested in the Mac Mini will certainly bite. The iPod Shuffle now has a 4 week wait because of such an enormous pre-order. Can you say that about the iRiver? Or about any other companies products at this time? No? didn't think so.

Not only that, but the Shuffle has twice the Memory of 99% of the major flash-based music players, in BOTH of it's price ranges.

Apple isn't sealing its own fate, it's sealing the fate of companies who dare not innovate, and make it as user friendly as possible.

Not exactly the same?

Comparing the amd pic to the mini mac is like comparing a car to a skateboard. The pic is not a true PC and doesn't have near the software that the new mac has.

[Llib Setag]

GO TO APPLE SITE for iPOD details...

The iPOD shuffle DOES let you pick exactly what you want to hear in the digital music of your PC's iTunes Music Library.
"Shuffle" is just ONE option...

www.apple.com/ipod

Get the facts, go to an Apple Store & test it out THEN make INFORMED comments & decisions

[brambex]

Enough sour grapes already!

Man, do these guys sound defensive!

[diabulos]

Lets get real!

All this talk about Apple is getting silly. We can jump up and down clapping at the little mini Mac and say woa, pretty, stylish, or what have you, we can talk until losing our voices about how great the Ipod is, or how elegant Mac OSX is, but the reality for the market says Apple will not move from where it is.

For one, Apple's model; Producing and controlling both the OS and the hardware will not work once you increase market share. Apple can't sustain producing these machines en masse, say for a 10 or 15% market share instead of the 5% it has.

Secondly, the nature of the PC business is growth, growth of the OS, growth of its ability; this means more powerful OSs, which will require at some point adjustments in the hardware. Apple cannot sustain that with its all inclusive shelled PCs, what more memory? Here, buy another machine. It will have to go back to the G4 case to be able to allow a normal, healthy upgrade cycle, I don't see the large majority giving money to Jobs every time OSX changes and requires more video memory, or more memory itself, let alone hard disk space (although external drivers somehow solve this bit) or will he slow growth of OSX for the sake of a user base left with un-upgradeable machines? That is something that Linux makers or MS don't have to worry about, the market
grows with them and them with the market, I can still run new programmes on a Windows Me or 2000 machine.

And lastly, style is not everything, Jobs have proven that he can miss the train sometimes (the one button mouse is a silly show of childlike rebellion). Apple at the moment is charging loads of money for products that are stylish, but not necessarily better than the PC side offering. The ipod is doing well, until others like the Creative Zen takes its market (where is the walkman?), Apple is charging 130 British pounds to replace a battery of an Ipod 1 year and 2 months out of warranty (by 2 months!) when the darn battery should have worked fine from the beginning and not die on you a year after shelling 360 pounds or thereabouts for the thing!.

They will continue to have the niche market, but why get a 32MB video card machine with ridiculous amount of memory, no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse for what i can pay for a fully fledged machine with a better processor, a decent video card and all the fixings? And that will make me switch? if only what apple claims here was true:
http://www.apple.com/switch/whyswitch/

It doesn't crash! Yeah......

Apple is becoming big brother

An avid mac user, I am sorry to see apple become the big
brother they pardoy in their famous 1984 ad. Suing a small web
reporter at thinksecret.com makes them just as bad as
microsoft. i will buy neither an ipod or the minimac but find
alternatives.

[ca5ter]

You bet geek, the rest bet style

I see your point, but I think both you and Rollins are missing the
move of technology from the office to the living room. You are
willing to pay less for a product even if you have to spend hours
making it work with other components. However, others are not
so willing. Most will pay for convenience, hence 7-11.

Also, as technology becomes more and more mainstream you
have a younger and younger audience. 8 years want an iPod and
they don't know or would understand downloading software to
make it work. Plus, they are willing to pay extra for a pair of
shoes to fit into a group, what makes you think they wouldn't do
it for their music (which they listen to because their friends
listen to it)?

As our televisions become computers and our status symbols
become digital, so do the objects that play them. The iPod
maybe trendy for now, but don't count Apple out of the future.

[xmit30]

Dell wishes that it was their fad.

Dell wishes they had a hit product like the ipod that caused their
stock price to triple since last year. I have seen little to no
innovation so far from Dell. I don't know one person who has a
Dell mp3 player. In fact I couldn't even tell you what it is called.

[Dachi]

Kevin Rollins is a bad CEO.

I remember his first interview with cnet after he first was made CEO he was bashing on HP's buisness model. I made the comment that he had only been CEO for 2 days and he already messed up. Now he is trash talking again on Apple, which is a great company. Michael Dell never resorted to this kind of mud slinging.

Keep it up Kevin.

Sadly Rollins is right...

With predatorial companies like Dell around, companies like
Apple have a hard time maintaining a sustainable business
model based on innovation.

Funny thing is, without the Mac, there would not be Windows,
and without Windows, Dell probably would not be the 800-
pound gorilla it is today. So looking at the big picture, does Dell
really have a sustainable business model and strategy? Sure
Rollins can take the moral high ground today, but if companies
like Dell keep snuffing out innovators, soon they too will run out
of products to copy and avenues for growth...

[tsm26]

Oh please

Why does everyone continue to say "there would be no windows" blahblahblah. With the definition of copying everyone has, then every single company copies everything. Apple copied its gui from several prior systems. The iPod was definitely not the first large mp3 player. Rios made one before and Archos. Stop being so blinded by brand loyalty and look at the big picture. In my opinion there are really no "new ideas", just ideas combined with old ones to form a better product. That is innovation, what everyone thinks of is invention, they are seperate things entirely. I like a lot of Apple's stuff, and I like a lot of Dell's stuff. Innovation is not just the technology, Dell innovated a way of selling computers that is great, and many other improvements. They have tons of innovation, but you fail to see it because you have a narrow definition of it. Apple actually innovates with marketing more than anything. They are so good that even if their product is done elsewhere just as well, they are able to convince a large number of people (you) that they are the first, best, and have no peers. I applaud them for that. That is good business. Sometimes Apple really does live up to the billing, othertimes not, that is why I don't automatically buy into something because "fill in the blank" makes it. Be objective and take each product seperately.

Dell outsources to save bucks, greed vs. integrity

Integrity has lost face and is replaced by greed. It is quite disheartening to see that U.S. companies that once stood for excellence opt for the buck and turn on the consumer whether home or business consumers/customers. So this is the advantage of a global economy.

[KenKramar]

Four years, not three...

The first Apple iPod was released in November 2001 - that's four years ago, not three as stated in the article. Somebody needs to check their facts... either Mr. Rollins is misinformed, or he may trying to subtly diminish the standing of the product's longevitiy in the marketplace.

A year or two might make the case for a fad... four years is long enough to consider setting a standard.

Also of note, mainstream 3rd party developers are incorporating iPod connectivity into their products - not just BMW & Volkwagen, but now Chevrolet and other GM vehicles... additionally the Sharper Image holiday catalog's first 18(!) pages are dedicated to iPod related gadgets, and iPod-related gear features prominently in Target's holiday gift guide. This is BIG-TIME mainstream. Other MP3 players are mentioned in passing.

I don't know how somebody can seriously make the case that the iPod is a fad, when there are no real competitors to the product or system... Apple has figured out how to sell both the player and the music that fills it, as a complete turn-key package that is simple for the end-user. *Apple* is the company that finally persuaded the "Music Industry" to start selling their wares online - and while there are Digital Rights Management embedded in iTunes Store songs, they're basically invisible to anybody using them with an iPod... and DRM is the ONLY way that the Music Industry is willing to let their music be downloaded. Thankfully Apple has the sense to NOT go the Sony MalWare route.

Critcisms by comanpanies like Dell are healthy, because it shows that the product is good, and that despite how they may pooh-pooh Apple's product, they certainly wish they had Apple's business.

[KenKramar]

Better late than never...

Y'know, I found this story through the "Big Picture" feature here on cNet's site... I didn't realize the story was already 11 months old: OOPS! My Bad! It really was three years at publishing time.

However, aside from the latent time-frame, my other comments still stand, and probably are reinforced by the passage of time.

Apologies for any time-space-continuum confusion!

[theheadguy]

This article a year old! He was wrong!!!!!!!

Wow! This goes for everyone saying Apple wouldn't make it. FYI:
This is the 1st time in history that ONE COMPANY has had the
hottest product two years in a row. So, for those of you who think
that Mr. Dell should take the place of Jesus, you better slow down
and take a better look.

[SPNudge]

Dell is too big and doesn't care about customers

I think Dell has isolated itself from customers. I spent 1 hour over a week ago trying to find out where to get my laptop repaired. I was told I could do it myself and they would send me the part. I got the part a week later then the fun started. I called the number I was instructed to, in order get some help and then was told I could not do it myself. I spent over 3 hours on the phone with them on the 29th talking to 6 different people about the needed repair. I was finally assured someone would be out to fix the problem. 3 days later I called them back and asked when the repair people would be here. Well, after 2 hours and 3 people later it turned out they were not going to send anyone out after all and I would have to send it in. I asked about the part they sent me and that I paid for and they said that was my problem.

There is no way to contact anyone in authority at Dell either by phone or e-mail. All you get is recordings and if you do get a live person, they just transfer you to someone else. They refuse to connect you to a supervisor or someone that can take care of a problem.

Dell makes a good product BUT I urge everyone to go somewhere else where you can get service with the purchase. Dell takes your money and runs.

Nudge