Macworld UK - Apple slowly eclipses Dell

Apple is now worth more than any other desktop computer company, including Dell - Macworld UK - Apple slowly eclipses Dell : "Dell's market value is $ 59,850,064,460, while Apple right now is worth $ 60,777,591,440."

Macworld UK:

Dell's market value is $59,850,064,460, while Apple right now is worth $60,777,591,440.

The head of Dell once said that Apple should close up shop and return its value to its stockholders.

Those words may come back to haunt him, if stock traders start dumping the Dell stock and buying up the lucrative Apple stock.

And even if they don't, he is losing to Apple. With the next version of the operating system and office application software known to be at least a year or so off - pretty much everybody with a nose or a finger in the stock market knows that Dell is not going to have any major software announcement/releases for the rest of this year.

Since it is new software that tends to get computer sales moving, and seem to get stock prices a jumping, Dell does not seem to be in an enviable position.

Dell Investors could liquidate their Dell stock, use the money to take a long position on Apple's stock now, sit on it for a year or so until Vista really looks like it is finished, and then buy back Dell's stock - if there is still any reason to do so, when that day finally comes.

In my perhaps overly-simplified view of where Apple and Dell sit, that is how things appear to me. I would always like to learn more about how markets work and never claim to be remotely close to an expert. However, I know most other people are not either.

The really great thing, is now Michael Dell has to spin this - and everyone is expecting a spin. So no matter what he says, people will be skeptical.

And anything he says in the way of promises will have a sort of tinny ring to them.

1. He cannot promise a better OS, because his next OS is a year off.
2. He cannot promise better applications, because his next office software suit is more than a year off.
3. He cannot promise to offer better hardware because Apple is already matching his fastest computers and the benchmarks are out that prove it.
4. He cannot promise radically improved hardware because no one really wants to spend a fortune on a computer in 2006 if the next OS for it is coming out in 2007 and may not be able to run on it.
5. He cannot really innovate much in the hardware area because any hardware he invents has to be something his one-and-only OS vendor supports. He does not have the luxury of having his own OS on the side that can take advantage of cool, unique hardware.

Even though the hardware and software decks are both stacked against him, I think Dell will say something brilliant. Not because he is but because the situation demands it - and that is what CEOs do when the situation demands. I just never knew such a speech+soundbyte was coming from a CEO in advance like it is this time.

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