Dell getting into smartphones...please no!
While Funambol CEO Fabrizio Capobianco thinks Dell's move into smartphones is a good idea or, at least, the way it's going about it. I can't agree. Has he forgotten Dell's MP3 player?
The rest of the world certainly has.
In the smartphone market, as Capobianco notes, Dell is planning to do an open-source Google Android-based phone and a Windows Mobile-based phone, which he thinks makes sense:
I think it is a smart move. They do not take risk, they do not expose themselves too much, they will pick the winner later. The only risk of not making a move is not making a move. If the market moves too fast (it always does) they risk to be defocused and have to jump on one bandwagon quickly, dropping the other one. Motorola has done exactly that. But they are desperate. Dell is not.
It's true that Dell's open/closed approach is a less risky way than to pick one platform and go to market with only one, but the alternative is for Dell to realize that its track record in markets outside industrial enterprise markets is terrible and to stay out completely. Dell's MP3 player was worse than uncool. It was Soviet.
Now it wants to compete with the iPhone and Blackberry? Not a chance. Dell lacks the DNA. The company has always been a low-cost aggregator of others' technologies. It ha never demonstrated a penchant for design or technology innovation, both of which are key attributes of both Research in Motion and Apple. In this club, Dell can't compete.
Like Microsoft, Dell needs to look in the mirror and learn how to work with what's there, rather than veering off into foreign markets in which it has no savvy and no experience. Few are going to relish hearing, "Dude, you're getting a Dell smartphone!"
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
-R
Would would have thought iPhone could compete with Blackberry at the time? I never would have guessed Microsoft would take a negative 7-9 Billion dollar hit to push the xbox either. It's all what you bring to the table to sell, how you market, and how much your willing to spend to make it succeed. I just don't think Dell is willing to go the distance with a smartphone as they failed to push the the Dell DJ. I'd say this will become a nice tax write-off for Dell but maybe they'll prove us both wrong and succeed. I'd have put money on Microsoft failing on the xbox when they launched that years ago because come on, who could compete with Sony (PS) or Nintendo? Will Dell succeed? In the words of Mythbusters, 'Plausable'.
Who would have thought iPhone could compete with Blackberry at the time?
Comparitively, the launch of the PS3 (not an incumbent so costs would be considerably lower) cost the Sony Games division ?1.4Billion ( http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ps3-launch-damages-sony-profits ), and that's just in fiscal 2006. The fiscal 2008 loss is £337Million ( http://www.edge-online.com/news/sony-forecasts-168b-loss ). Considering the original XBox was launched at a terrible time to make any headway, I'd say it's done quiet well.
?1.4Billion should be 1.4Billion Euros (currently over 1.8Billion US Dollars)
That should be $337Million (USD), not £ (GBP).
They don't design it or manufacture it.... some Taiwanese company does that.
All Dell does is slap their lame brand on it and try to sell it.
Then nobody buys it, because their history with PDAs and MP3 players is lame.
It's a gamble for Dell, all business ventures are, but better to try then not to. Some people are not risk takers and therefore will never give themselves the opportunity to succeed because they will always assume it will failure...much like the author of this CNET article.
Enjoy.
- by Igloo888888 February 5, 2009 9:20 AM PST
- Why are people comparing this potential Smartphone to the DJ? I'd compare a potential Smartphone with Dell's former Axim line. Quite simply the best PDA there ever was. I, along with many others in the industry were shocked at Dell for killing it...and not at least turning the Axim into a smartphone. Bet they are kicking themselves now.
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(16 Comments)This blog is just plain stupid comparing this to the DJ. I think Dell has it in them. I hope they do, because beyond RIM and Apple, there is no other company out there that has a chance to compete.