Apple Gets No Respect: BusinessWeek Calls Dell The Only Profitable PC Company [Updated]

August 22nd, 2001 at 3:00 PM - News by Bryan Chaffin

[Update: Since publishing this story, BusinessWeek has updated their article to include a reference to Apple as being profitable last quarter. The paragraph we quoted below now reads:

If you listened to Dell Computeris second-quarter earnings announcement on Aug. 16, the company had plenty to be pleased about. The only PC manufacturer other than Apple Computer to make an operating profit in that sector last quarter, Dell clearly has a business model that thrives in a down market. In fact, the company has used the economic downturn as an opportunity to grab market share from competitors who arenit as cost-efficient. Small wonder it has emerged as the No. 1 desktop- and notebook-PC maker in the U.S.

Kudos to BusinessWeek for moving swiftly to correct the omission. Thanks to the many Observers who wrote us to let us know the article had been amended. We are leaving the original article below unedited for posterityis sake.]

This is not an article suggesting there is a big huge anti-Apple conspiracy in the mainstream press. Indeed, it is our opinion at The Mac Observer that much, but not all, of the bias that some mainstream outlets have shown Apple in the past is largely gone. However, Observer Chris Gray noticed a glaring sin of omission in an article about Dell in BusinessWeek. That article said that Dell was the only PC vendor to profit last quarter. Except for the minor detail that Apple also turned in a profit, that was more or less a fact. Chris sent the author of the BusinessWeek article, and CCid The Mac Observer and other Mac publications. Chrisis letter:

Does Dell Compute over the Long Haul?

In the above article you state:

"The only PC manufacturer to make a profit in that sector last quarter, Dell clearly has a business model that thrives in a down market."

This is not correct, if your definition of PC means personal computer. If you mean the only Wintel-based PC manufacturer, that means quite a different thing. Apple computer made a profit of $61 million last quarter.

Well said, Chris! This is the offending paragraph from the article itself:

If you listened to Dell Computeris second-quarter earnings announcement on Aug. 16, the company had plenty to be pleased about. The only PC manufacturer to make a profit in that sector last quarter, Dell clearly has a business model that thrives in a down market. In fact, the company has used the economic downturn as an opportunity to grab market share from competitors who arenit as cost-efficient. Small wonder it has emerged as the No. 1 desktop- and notebook-PC manufacturer in the U.S.

You can read the full article if you are interested. Except for the misstatement about Dell being the only profitable PC company last quarter, it is an interesting piece that calls into question Dellis business model.