Dell CEO still doesn’t get it

In all seriousness, congratulations are in order to Dell for being named Fortune's America's Most Admired Company. Now that that's out of the way, let's rip into Dell CEO Kevin Rollins for a moment, shall we? ;)

He says,
of the iPod: it's "a one-product event. You can't just have one product and then say you're the innovative leader of the world. I'm a big admirer of everything [Apple's] done. It's phenomenal. But then to say it's the world-beating wonder of forever? No, it's not." Yeesh, can you see the sweat beading up on this guy's brow or what?!

Of course the iPod is not the be-all end-all device of all time (though it is right now! :)). But it's not merely a
"one-product event" either. Besides the fact that it has sparked a boatload of third-party
cottage industries piggy-backing off of its success,
the iPod ushered in the era of portable digital music. Regardless of whether you happen to prefer an MP3 player from iRiver or Creative, there is no disputing that the iPod delivered this particular innovation to the general public in a way that finally made sense. As such, the iPod stands squarely as a key device in the middle of a technological transition to a new way of thinking about media. Phenomenal, indeed. Need a hanky, Kevin?