Kaka - did someone hang a "kick me" sign on MSD's back? Here again, he makes a statement that clearly says DELL is a PC company, DELL has not noticed that Europe is 12 to 18 months ahead of the US in wireless, etc. And the competition was not slow to hammer home the point.
PARIS -- Europe's lagging behind the U.S. when it comes to technology is a perennial topic at industry conferences here. But don't tell Europeans they're not making enough of an effort on the high-tech front and expect to get away with it anymore.
Witness the response that Michael Dell, chief executive of Texas-based Dell Computer Corp., generated this week when he told an audience at a Madrid business school that "there's a long way to go in Europe in technology."
and some of the responses:
Executives at the computer maker's rivals in Europe were almost as outspoken in disagreement.
"I think it's ridiculous to imply that European companies are going to operate exactly the same as their U.S counterparts," said Val Rahmani, the head of International Business Machines Corp.'s wireless-related activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "To say they're not embracing technology fully couldn't be farther from the truth."
Ms. Rahmani said Mr. Dell was too focused on the personal-computer market, and that it was instead consumer and business wireless applications that were exploding. She also pointed out that Germany's Siemens AG this week unveiled a plan to spend 1 billion euros ($869.3 million) to upgrade its internal use of technology, an announcement made the same day as Mr. Dell's comments.
"This is a fundamental disagreement," said Kasper Rorsted, vice president and general manager for the enterprise business group at Compaq Computer Corp. in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. "Particularly in the wireless space, Europe is actually leading the adoption of technology." |
