To be honest, I haven't thought much of Dell for a good number of years. I never buy their products, I just never liked the vibe coming from them. Hee.
Apple poached quite a few employees from RIM. The people at RIM is perfectly aware that they are in trouble, which is why they are desperately trying their best to play catch-up. Maybe they'll have a big comeback someday, maybe not. It's a wait and see game at the moment. RIM was pretty quick to dismiss the idea of Apple of being a competitor, that was the first and biggest mistake they made right there. They were shell-shocked to find how big of a battery the original iPhone had and how small the processor was.
The smartphone market is growing at a pretty fast rate though, and that's probably due to the innovation coming from both Apple and Android.
I think it's somewhat too early to speculate that Apple have put themselves into a niché, they have years of planning up their sleeves from what I know. There's no way of knowing what to expect. For instance, Apple TV, apparently it is going to happen. It's just a matter of when. I'm not talking about these media players, I'm talking about TV displays.
The reason why Apple was in trouble years ago was due to bad management and a lack of innovation. Not to mention how they ousted Jobs from the Board of Directors, promptly firing him. Myself, I think it was the best thing that happened to him. Once Steve Jobs came back, he pushed the envelope on a daily basis and hired all of the best of the best he could find in the world. Literally. So even if Steve Jobs was to pass away, Apple would still be in good hands.
Android, it's intriguing how far they have come so far. It wouldn't have been made possible if it wasn't for Google's role in it. Both are great and will bring a lot more for us in the future.
