March 24th, 2009
Carriers may have snubbed the Dell smartphone prototypes
A couple of months ago Andrew asked, “Would you buy a Dell smartphone? and apparently that may not be an option for quite some time, if ever. Dell has not yet issued any official statement regarding their possible smartphone plans, but an analyst stated that Dell was rejected by carriers after they saw a prototype and were not impressed. Dell was known to sell their Pocket PC devices at some of the lowest prices around and by taking this pricing scheme to phones there may not be enough of a profit margin for Dell or the carriers.
Dell may have actually shown off Windows Mobile and Android prototypes, but with the significant number of mobile devices available from companies like HTC, Samsung, LG, and Nokia there may not have been anything compelling about the Dell devices. Mr. Wu reported that Dell is going to think more about a mobile phone strategy and what they can do to enter the smartphone market that looks to continue to grow, even if at a slower pace than previously imagined.
The last Dell Pocket PC, the Axim X51v, was a fantastic device with the best PDA specs available in a sleek design. However, it took a couple generations to get to this device. I would like to see a sleek Dell Axim running the Android OS with an integrated Phone and think that would stand out a bit in today’s environment.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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