Bill...IBM has for several years now.....has pulled a similar tactic in the PC box biz vs. Dell....."we are serious/we are coming after you/we are making these investments/etc"
All the while, it appears that their REAL interest is to protect their legacy (is that the correct term?) business.......that PCs are a lead-in, lost-leader, after thought, etc....seemingly, they have no interest in really becoming the most efficient, mostly/pure direct play (which, in the PC biz, is about the only way to make money)...although they have whittled their costs down some...they still lost close to $200m in the 1st quarter on PCs..
Sounds to me like the "we are investing 400m on storage" routine..
Although the analogy is not perfect, I think there are similarities with the current IBM/EMC relationship...Although I fear/respect IBM as a competitor........I am amazed that Lou's credibility on the Street is so high...granted, IBM is a research marvel, and its place in tech history is secure.....but Lou gets away with stuff (pronouncements-never-leading-anywhere, "revisionist" history, etc) that other CEO's would be deep-sixed for...
I hope the culture we have seen at IBM the last two years (grand product announcements...followed by less-than-stellar execution of plan) continues for a while.. |
