Dude, we're not getting a Dell

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

Oh, Dell, what are we going to do with you? For months and months and months (and months) we're teased by rumors that you might be getting back into the smartphone business. And time and time again, we see nothing.

Now comes word from Barrons [via Giz] that Dell's been shot down by the carriers for producing a couple of prototypes that were too "Dell-like."

(Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw) Wu says that he understands that Dell built prototypes using both Windows Mobile and Android, but that the carriers knocked the offerings for “lack of differentiation” versus current and coming products from HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola and others. He adds that the unveiling of the Palm Pre didn’t help, “generating interest from carriers as a viable competitor.”

Wu says that Dell's going back to the drawing board and could well be making acquitisions to try to get the job done.

Hey, it's touch to top what HTC's doing these days. And there's certainly tons of excitement surrounding the Pre. But shouldn't Dell have a little more to show by now?

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

3 Comments
  • If Microsoft isn't going the Zune phone route and is instead going to be giving carriers minimum spec requirements for a Zune compatible phone device(as was rumored pretty heavily recently) why not go that route? Dell as a brand has more consumer cachet than HTC or LG so a more multimedia friendly device appealing to the avg joe would seem to be their target market anyway.
  • for dell to break into the market, they would need a killer device. they could aim for a pre like form factor, running windows and or android. hp is almost completely out of the game now. or at least seem to be.... dell's strengths are its distribution and the customization of pcs from the dell website. that would be hard to translate to a much smaller device like a phone. and if they could, the phone carriers don't care about that, anyway.. phone carriers probably don't need another player right now, unless they feel a game changer is coming along. att is running on the iphone. verizon is the business carrier of choice. t-mobile is the youth play. sprint is loosing ground, and hopes the pre will be their game-changer. where does dell break in? what do they bring that's new to the market?
  • HTC, with their 2.8" screens, wasn't doing much to impress me. However, the Touch Pro2 with the 3.5" screen (give or take .1" depending on what specs you see) is FINALLY starting to get into impressive territory. Jeez, WTH took so long ?! The iPn has had a 3.5" screen for 2 freakin years, why's it taken so long for HTC/LG/Samsung to reply to that ?!