Dell
Second-quarter sales came in strong, rising 22% year over year to $15.5 billion. But most of that revenue climb happened in the enterprise segment, leading the charge with 35% stronger sales. Data center products like blade servers are a particular feather in Dell's hat, which makes sense because that class of hardware is ideally suited for running virtual server farms and cloud-computing services. Need I remind you that these twin revolutions are reshaping the corporate IT world as we know it? Dell's best friend right now is virtualization leader VMware
While the enterprise division waxes, Dell's consumer operations are waning. Once the pride and joy of the world's largest computer systems builder, consumer products now make up just 18% of Dell's total sales. That's probably a good thing in the long run, because this segment is notoriously margin-poor when compared to the less price-sensitive corporate computing market. I can't blame IBM
Apple
If Michael Dell is on his way out anyway, this could be the perfect time to refocus and make Dell a single-minded mastodon of the data center. Dell's infamously slim margins will thank the board later, once they fatten up on corporate cash.