John Chambers stressed the volatility of the short-term outlook.
Tech Chiefs Enter 2003 with Dim Hopes
Sun January 26, 2003 01:25 PM ET
By Lucas van Grinsven
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Technology executives scrambled to tone down expectations for 2003 this week after hard-learned lessons that their customers cannot predict the future.
From Microsoft's MSFT.O Bill Gates to Michael Dell, the founder of the world's second-largest personal computer maker, few were prepared to predict a recovery in global demand for technology after the Internet bubble burst.
"There's no big uptick," Gates told the World Economic Forum.
"It's OK, but not good," said Dell, Chief Executive of Dell DELL.O .
Many of the chiefs of the world's largest technology companies spent the past days in the Swiss ski resort, host each year to some 2,000 political and business leaders.
The corridors have been full of talk of war on Iraq and the sluggish U.S. economy. But technology executives have been taking the pulse of their market, often in back-to-back meetings with customers, ranging from aircraft manufacturing bosses to the heads of global retail chains.
John Chambers, chief executive officer (CEO) of U.S. network equipment maker Cisco CSCO.O , who prides himself on being close to his clients, stressed the volatility of the short-term outlook.
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