Dell admits to Apple’s dominance
Posted by Lab Rat
“We’re obviously not competing very well.”
Those are the words of Dell CFO Jim Schneider in response to analysts questions regarding Dell’s most recent earnings. Dell’s 3rd quarter profits fell 28% as US consumers stayed away in droves from Dell’s latest offerings. When asked specifically about Apple’s iPod and online music dominance, Schneider replied, “Apple has come out with a nice product and I think it’s really turned their company aroundâ€?.
That may be the business understatement of the year. A recent ipodnn article states that Apple has a whopping 68% “mindshare� with sales reps recommending MP3 players costing over $150. Apple’s closest rival, Creative Technology, made a large jump forward in mindshare, up to 26% in November from 12% in June. However, analysts credit this more to Creative picking up mindshare lost by rival Rio than of any progress against Apple. For Dell’s part, they refuse to provide sales figures or market share numbers for their Dell DJ music player, which is probably a smart move. After all, if you can’t say anything nice…
The sales reps surveyed were from Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and Fry’s Electronics.
