When Michael Dell jumped back into hot CEO seat at Austin-based Dell Inc in February, I wondered whether he and the company would benefit from application of what Larry Ribstein has brilliantly coined “the Apple Rule.”

Well, it looks as if the Apple Rule is working pretty darn well for Dell.

The company just announced that it will miss another deadline for filing its quarterly report with the SEC, making it three straight quarters that the computer giant has failed to file its 10-Q. Nor has Dell filed its annual report for 2006.

Under a strict application of its rules, Nasdaq should delist Dell, but it won’t because the company remains an 800 pound gorilla (i.e., a $65 billion market cap).

Meanwhile, despite all this apparent trouble, the market doesn’t seem all that concerned — Dell’s stock price has increased by 23% since Mr. Dell returned as CEO.

Sort of makes you wonder what might have happened had the Apple Rule been around during far more turbulent times in the fall of 2001 to help a large, innovative company and a couple of its visionary leaders who ended up suffering far different fates than Dell?