INNOVATION, LEGO-STYLE

摘要

What's the use of innovating? Seemingly none, if you're in the computer business. It has been a joyless, nearly profitless existence of late. Since 2000, the server business has shrunk from $69 billion to $49 billion, says researcher IDC. The only company making enough to brag about is Dell Computer Corp. Analysts expect the Round Rock (Tex.) company to see this year's profits rise 22%, to $2.5 billion. What really irks rivals is that Dell doesn't even share in the heavy research and development required to create new products. Instead, it rides gleefully on the coattails of industry leaders Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Last year, Dell spent a wispy 1.3% of its $35 billion revenue on R&D. By comparison, Sun Microsystems Inc. spent 14.7% of its $12.5 billion in 2002 sales on R&D, yet racked up $587 million in losses trying to sell its powerful servers. "We've seen this movie before, and at the end of the day, Dell gets the girl," says Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Steven Milunovich.