Rollins on Macs, Michael Dell and more
Published: 19 Jan 2005 13:40 GMT
It has been just six months since Kevin Rollins took over the reigns at the helm of PC giant Dell last year after founder Michael Dell stepped aside as CEO.
ZDNet UK sister site silicon.com caught up with Rollins on a visit to Dell's sprawling headquarters just outside Austin, in Red Rock, Texas, last week where a breezy, youthful-looking Rollins, sporting a casual open-necked shirt and a pair of modern black-rimmed 'new media' glasses, fielded questions for an hour in a plush wood-panelled executive meeting room.
Not much is known about Rollins and it is only now that he is starting to step out of the shadow of Michael Dell and into the limelight. Rollins says he is comfortable being the public face of Dell but claims he has no ego or need for fame. When asked if he wants to become part of the tech billionaire group occupied by the likes of Bill Gates and Dell, he says: "That's a unique group. I don't even aspire to that."
So what makes Rollins tick? Outside of Dell he is a classically trained violinist who plays in public several times a year. He races motocross motorbikes and likes to take himself off skiing. He's also a keen fan of history books who has taken a recent interest in the 'founding fathers' of the US, and likes to read about political leadership in times of crisis -- not a comparison that can be drawn at Dell, which continues to consistently outperform the rest of the market and beat analyst expectations.
We asked Rollins about his views on everything from Dell's next move to the Chinese market, Apple, the iPod and the Republican Party.
Q: Your current target is to double the size of the company from $30bn to $60bn, but is there a limit on the size of Dell? How big do you see Dell becoming -- do you have a vision of a $100bn company?
A: We have not launched publicly what is the next step. What I can tell you is I have not found the end. We own 18 per cent of just the PC business. Now that's only about 60 per cent of our business today. But if you look at that business alone at 18 per cent is it conceivable to double the size of that business? Yes, 36 per cent market share is not irrational. That would take us this year from $50bn to $100bn. Now will we do it? I don't know. It's very hard to do but it's not irrational.
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