In article , Eric Stevens
wrote:

At that time the discussion was confined to Apple vs Dell PCs, with no
thought of "smartphone market, wearables market and previously
music player market." Is Dell in the smartphone market, wearables
market and previously music player market? No, I thought not.

you thought wrong, as usual.

dell has had numerous products in those segments, all of which were a
miserable failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Digital_Jukebox
The Dell Digital Jukebox or just Dell DJ is a brand name for a series
of digital audio players sold by the Dell corporation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Streak
Dell Streak 5 (previously known as the Dell Mini 5) is a
smartphone/tablet hybrid ("phablet") from Dell that uses the
Android operating system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Venue
The Dell Venue (previously known as codename Dell Thunder) is a line
of Android smartphones and tablets manufactured by Dell.
http://www.thegeeksclub.com/dell-exp...ar****ch-weara
ble-tech/
Dell is exploring the possibility of wearable technologies including
a Smar****ch.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/.../product/dell-
bh200-blth/manuals
Support for Dell BH200 Bluetooth 2.0 EDR Stereo Headset

None of those are personal computers. Why do you keep dragging them
in?

because you specifically asked about it:
Is Dell in the smartphone market, wearables
market and previously music player market? No, I thought not.

you're *really* confused.

had dell 'been doing something right', they would not have repeatedly
failed every single time they tried to compete in those segments.

the above products were utter junk.

dell is good at assembling parts, but that's about it.

^^ this ^^

you are fixated on market share being the only metric of success.

that's a fundamental misunderstanding.

you also don't understand what the market share numbers even mean.

I do know how to tell which number is the largest of the two.

what you don't know is what the numbers actually mean.

OK, what do they mean?

not what people think they mean.

dell and hp, with their 'twice market share', are barely more than a
rounding error to apple, the *opposite* of what one would expect from
having twice the market share.

Not when we stay with PCs.

wrong.

the 'twice market share' numbers also include segments in which apple
does not compete, further invalidating the numbers.

Oh, so it's OK to drag in areas of the wider market in which HP or
Dell do not compete but not OK to drag in areas of the PC market in
which Apple does not compete. Is your bias showing?

you're very confused. i'm not dragging in anything.

it's not ok to drag in areas where one company plays and the other does
not, no matter which direction it is.

it's also not ok to compare widely different products thinking they're
somehow equivalent.

for example, dell sells rack mount servers and apple does not, so dell
has infinitely more market share in that segment than apple.

one of many reasons why the numbers are meaningless.

and i'll say it again. apple doesn't chase market share. it's a silly
thing to chase.