This weekend a Dell VP named Bob Pearson attempted to call out Apple on it's green cred. One thinks that Dell might focus instead on making products consumers actually want to buy, but I suppose that's beside the point. Here are Mr. Pearson's thoughts on the Dell blog:
"Companies who choose to lead have an obligation to be open and transparent." No they don't, they just have to lead.
Apple doesn't "join key conferences." Don't conferences entail a carbon footprint? A 500 person conference that involved a medium length plane ride to get there would have a carbon footprint of 625,000 pounds.
"Employees aren't allowed to blog." Probably because Apple employees are busy making products people want to buy, rather than outsourcing support functions to India so that Bob Pearson has time to blog.
Apple hasn't "set goals for itself, they just declare success after the fact." Well, actions speak louder than words. Any moron can set goals. I'm living proof of that. My goal is to jog 5 miles per day. My reality is chair and Chick-Fil-A.
Dell offers "free recycling." They have to. Dell products are suboptimal, cheaply made, and break. People want to throw them away. People want to hold onto their Macs. I still have every Mac (6 of them) I've bought in the last 10 years. They still work. I don't have to throw them away. Better yet, I don't want to.
It's easy to act wax pompous on your green "goals." But being green means little if your business is failing. The way things are going Dell will go green by ceasing to make computers.
Ten years ago Dell stock was $33 per share. Today, it's $11. Ten years ago Apple stock was $9. Now it's $90. Apple has $25 billion in cash in the bank. Dell's market cap is $22 billion. Apple could buy Dell outright without borrowing a dime.
Michael Dell joked a few years back that Apple should be sold and the cash returned to its shareholders. The joke now appears to be on Michael Dell. I take that back. It's on his shareholders.