Published: January 18, 2005, 8:19 AM PST

By Andy McCue

Special to CNET News.com

ROUND ROCK, Texas--Dell Chief Executive Kevin Rollins is dismissing the iPod as a ``fad`` and a ``one-product wonder`` and claiming the new Mac Mini won`t dent the PC market.

Kevin Rollins,

president and CEO,

DellIn an interview with Silicon.com at Dell`s headquarters here last week, Rollins said that the number of headlines Apple grabs does not worry him and that the company isn`t ``in the same league`` as Dell.

``It`s interesting the iPod has been out for three years and it`s only this past year it`s become a raging success,`` said Rollins, who is also Dell`s president. ``Well, those things that become fads rage, and then they drop off. When I was growing up there was a product made by Sony called the Sony Walkman--a rage, everyone had to have one. Well, you don`t hear about the Walkman anymore. I believe that one-product wonders come and go. You have to have sustainable business models, sustainable strategy.``

But Rollins was careful to add that this wasn`t meant as any kind of disparagement of Apple. ``They`ve done a nice job,`` he said.

``This (the Mac Mini) might be an interesting new product, but I`m not really believing this is going to turn the industry upside down.``

--Kevin Rollins,

president and CEO, DellApple announced its new $499 entry-level Mac Mini--which is aimed at tempting wavering PC users to the Apple camp--last week, while Silicon.com was visiting Dell`s headquarters.

But given Dell`s historical commitment to aggressive pricing in the PC market and its dominant position in the United States, Rollins was, not surprisingly, unimpressed with the Mac Mini.

``It might take some here and there, but Apple`s market share in the global computer business has really shrunk pretty far,`` he said. ``Where they`ve been making success recently is not in the computer business, but in the iPod music business. So this might be an interesting new product, but I`m not really believing this is going to turn the industry upside down.``

Dell recently extended its foray into the consumer market with a music download service to go with its own MP3 player, but Rollins said Dell will continue to make business customers its No. 1 priority.

``Our strategic focus has been on corporations and institutions, and selling them large server clusters and huge SAN (storage area network) installations,`` he said. ``The data center isn`t very sexy to write about but, frankly, that`s where the money is. No. 1 is corporations and institutions.``