Science & Tech Quote by Kevin Rollins

Rollins is doing two things at once: congratulating Apple with one hand while quietly escorting it out of the room with the other. The line opens with a casual hedge ("It might take some here and there") that reads like sports-talk modesty, then lands the real punch: Apple has "really shrunk pretty far" in the global computer business. It’s competitive framing disguised as neutral observation, a way to define the scoreboard before anyone else can.

The sharper move is the category split. By insisting Apple’s "success recently" isn’t in computers but in "the iPod music business", Rollins tries to demote a rising rival into a side hustle. Subtext: Apple may be hot, but it’s not a serious threat to the core PC market where Dell played king. It’s the corporate equivalent of calling a breakout film director a YouTuber.

Context matters. This was the mid-2000s moment when the iPod had turned Apple into a lifestyle brand and a cultural object, even as Macs still looked niche against Windows-dominated enterprise fleets. Rollins is speaking from a world where "global computer business" means volume, procurement, and IT departments - arenas Dell knew how to win. He’s also betting that music players are a fad and that Apple’s cool factor won’t translate into durable platform power.

History makes the quote sting. The iPod wasn’t a detour; it was Apple teaching consumers to live inside an ecosystem, rehearing the habits that would make the iPhone inevitable. Rollins names the phenomenon, but misreads its trajectory.