Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell recently said that his company’s research and development (R&D) division is very comparable to that of Apple. In fact, Dell has more workers and spends more money than Apple in R&D, despite being known for rebranding products and using many OEM parts. “We have 3,600 folks in our R&D division and spend half a billion dollars a year, similar to the amount Apple spends,” Dell said. “Just because we sell a whole lot more doesn’t mean we’re bad. I thought that was part of the objective.” Apple says it currently has 2,500 employees working in R&D, and spent $471 million in R&D costs in fiscal 2003.
