On October 6, 1997, in response to the question of what he’d do if he was in charge of Apple Computer, Dell founder and then CEO Michael Dell stood before a crowd of several thousand IT executives and answered flippantly, “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
A little more than a month later, on November 10, 1997, new Apple iCEO Steve Jobs responded, speaking in front of an image of Michael Dell’s bulls-eye covered face, “We’re coming after you, you’re in our sights.”
Today, after a little more than eight years of hard work, Apple Computer, Inc. passed Dell, Inc. in market value. That’s right, at market close Apple Computer ($72,132,428,843) is now worth more than Dell ($71,970,702,760).
Got any snappy retorts for that one, Mr. Dell?
Luckily, Apple has had the right man in charge since July 1997; a man with the vision and the ability to do what lesser men think impossible.
Advertisements:
• MacBook Pro. The first Mac notebook built upon Intel Core Duo with iLife ’06, Front Row and built-in iSight. Starting at $1999. Free shipping.
• iMac. Twice as amazing — Intel Core Duo, iLife ’06, Front Row media experience, Apple Remote, built-in iSight. Starting at $1299. Free shipping.
• iMac and MacBook Pro owners: Apple USB Modem. Easily connect to the Internet using dial-up service. $49.00.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
Related articles:
Apple primed to pass Dell in market value – January 12, 2006
Corporate IT buyers fuming that Apple has Intel Core Duo Macs shipping while Dell and HP wait – January 12, 2006
Financial Times: Dell and Microsoft can never hope to attain Apple’s Mac aura – January 10, 2006
Struggling Dell has lost its mojo while Apple shows rapid growth – November 07, 2005
Apple growing faster with more innovative products, better support than ‘one-trick pony’ Dell – November 01, 2005
IDC: Apple shows rapid growth, holds 4.3% U.S. market share on 48% growth – October 17, 2005
Michael Dell say’s he’d be happy to sell Apple’s Mac OS X if Steve Jobs decides to license – June 16, 2005
Why buy a Dell when Apple ‘Macintel’ computers will run both Mac OS X and Windows? – June 08, 2005
Apple Macs are less expensive than Dell PCs – April 25, 2005
Dell CEO: Apple can’t just have one product and then say they’re the innovative leader of the world – February 22, 2005
BusinessWeek: Rather than dismissing Apple products as fads, Dell should try starting a few – January 31, 2005
Dismissive Dell CEO not impressed with Apple Mac mini, calls iPod a ‘one-product wonder’ and a ‘fad’ – January 17, 2005
Michael Dell owes Apple an apology; Apple up 176 percent vs. Dell’s 13 percent in past 12 months – January 15, 2005
Was that really Steve Jobs?
me said: ‘WITHIN seven years Apple has made that change. Fast, but it wasn’t due to the Computers or software they created, it was because of the iPod and their distirbution of music via the iTMS (okay, that _is_ software).
let’s not loose our minds here. Without the iPod/iTunes success, AAPL would not be anywhere close to DELL’s market cap.’
Utter crap!
For a start, Jobs made the comment about Dell in 1997. The first iPod did not hit the market until 2001 – four years later, as for the iTunes store, that didn’t debut until 2003 – six years later.
So the impact on Apple’s market valuation, while impressive in the last three years, is hardly the whole story. I’d argue that the introduction of the first iMac into a moribund and overwhelmingly beige market had a bigger impact on Apple than practically anything else.
Dell makes crapola, it’s over for them.
other macdude said: “It doesn’t matter if Apple’s success is due to the iPod”
I agree with you on that. no one says Dell wouldn’t be making money if it wasn’t for those desktops, or MS would be going broke if it wasn’t for MS office.
Hey, I remember paying $2000 for a powerbook when apple was basically a sinking ship w/o Jobs. its kinda cool that they are %!##* everyone else with the ipod right now.
CAN I GET A WOOT!!!!!!!!!
This is great news indeed. Put any two comparable computers side by side, one from Apple and the other from Dell and they’re as different as night and day.
Even without turning either one of them on, the industrial design and the internal engineeringof the Apple units are light years ahead of the Dell machines.
Jolly good show, Apple!
Sorry guys ! I do love Apple because they do good and neat SW, good and neat HW and all the rest, and I’m really glad for Apple’s performance of topping Dell in MV. It’s good to make fiesta from time to time, but what about postponing the champagne and confetti time for the moment when Apple’s annual turnover will top Dell’s ? Until that day, keep this chart in mind: link
@ Moe
It means that Apple as a company is worth more $$$$$ than Dell computer even though more people in the world use Dell PCs than Macs. Dell PCs have a very small profit margin (single figure percentage when sold) Macs sell with average profit margin of 28%.
mr. fiesta, bananovac, maybe your argument would work better without a broken link.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
On 10/6/97 Dell closed at $98.6875 or split adjusted 8:1 at $12.34. Apple closed at $21.9375 or split adjusted 4:1 at $5.48.
If somone invested $1,000 in each company the next day they would have purchased, in today’s split adjusted values, 81.04 shares of Dell or 182.5 shares of Apple.
The Dell stock today would be worth $2,478.20 while the Apple stock would be worth $15,620.16.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
That’s hilarious. Apple’s worth more than Dull.
Dell – stop shoving your cheap shite on us. We hate your crap
Dell ightful, its always a shame when people say supposed proper things, to be made a fool of in just a few years, What would his answer be, I wonder if Mr Dell was asked the same question now?
Interesting. So now that Apple surpasses Dell in value, a lot of you are ready to write Dell off. Wasn’t it that same retarded mentality that got Dell to shoot his mouth off in the statement you’re now busting his balls over?
A little bit of humbleness might be in order folks. It’s not like it’s your hard work that got Apple to this point.
Let’s face facts. This site is largely comprised of very immature partcipants these days. Which means it’s probable few of you have supported Apple to any significant degree monetarily. Owning a clamshell iBook doesn’t mean you’re the reason Apple has crossed this bridge today.
And if you think Dell and MS are doomed, you’ve aparently overlooked the incredibly effective busniess tactics those two employ (ethically/legally or not).
imax
love it . . . add my ha too!!
Capt. Obvious:
I’ve endured 15 years of odd looks for being a Mac fan. I’ve bought more than my share of Mac products and depending upon the weather my Apple logo tattoo is good advertising. I can take a little bit of credit and I gloat just a bit.
Yes, MS and Dull aren’t going away anytime soon but it is nice to see the tables turned.
BTW, that $1,000 invested in MS in October 1997 would be worth a measly $1,608.83 today. Granted they’ve paid out dividends but not enough to make up for the difference. Eventually MS and Dull shareholders are going to begin to ask questions the way Roy Disney did at Disney.
And at the same time Apple grab’s Intel’s newest and latest chips before Dell could get ahold of them.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” st
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
yle=”border:0;” />
Right, TankMan ! Take this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=dell
Cpt. Obvious
I have owned 12 macs, 3 mac printers, 1 mac cam, 8 ipods and converted dozens of people to the beauty of mac, I think I can say thank you Steve and the crew, I’m a happy little bunny with this landmark.
babanovac,
Ancient history vs. recent performance.
Right back at ya:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=dell
And so come the expected replies like “but I own X number of Macs!”
Well, if you’ve bought 12 Macs, then I’m not talking to you. Nowhere did I say nobody here has helped. Read again what I said, and explain to me where I’m wrong.
And no, getting funny looks from PC users for years doesn’t entitle you to anything. Gloating back at them at this point means you’re no better than they are. So way to go, you’ve joined the crowd of assholes!
Nobody cares about what Dell’s stock was doing 10 years ago dude. Look at AAPL vs DELL vs MSFT over the past 5 years. AAPL is absolutely killing them both.
Ya Broker, whish u’d b right ! U call it ancient history ? Maybe. I just call it history. Life (and everything that goes with, like business for instance) goes only with the (very) long term. Short term means nada. And that, I’m pretty sure SJ knows it. So, let’s hope together that 01/10/06 and 01/13/06 will be the 2 milestones in Apple’s long term revival.
To Re:babanovac
Nobody ?!… What about Wall Street, dude ?…