Dell hints it's working on smartphone

It wasn't much more than an offhand comment this time, but Michael Dell's got the gadget-obsessed stirred up again.

In an interview with Om Malik of GigaOm, Dell was asked about the company's plans in the smartphone industry. At first he gave a vague, corporate PR-type answer: "We are certainly looking at the whole smartphone category, but I wouldn't expect anything anytime soon." But when Malik pressed him about whether his company was more interested in a Symbian or Android OS for any potential handheld device, Dell was slightly more informative.

(Credit: Dell)

"We're not ready to publicly disclose our plans there...we're kind of working on that," he said.

Well, it's about time. Dell's been out of the handheld business for over a year, but there have been signs it's been testing the waters, such as when it picked up Zing in August. One round of rumors put the device as Android-based and more recently as Windows Mobile.

Dell did warn not to expect any product anytime soon, so perhaps they're waiting for Windows Mobile 7? Stay tuned.

[Penguinisto]

Heh - Dell also tried making an iPod clone a long while back... the Dell DJ. It died awful quickly and was never heard from again (though I will grant that Dell is at least smart enough to stop supporting losing projects, unlike some vendors...)

[Vegaman_Dan]

Don't worry, Apple will eventually find a use (and customers) for the Apple TV. Give it time. :)

[Penguinisto]

So when did the AppleTV become a portable music player? (hint: you;re talking about two vastly different markets, kiddo ;) )

[a1016neo1]

Dell is making a HUGE MISTAKE! What ever happened to the Dell DJ Music player??? Or the Dell Axim PDAs... See my point???

[SixVodkas]

"we're kind of working on that," he said."

Wow, with that much excitement, I'm sure it'll kind of fail!

[Renegade Knight]

Apple says less and it works for them.

[techslut]

Maybe Dell should wait for Windows 11. It'll give Monkey Boy & Company more time to get their act together.

[technewsjunkie]

I, Joe Shmoe, am making a Smart Phone!

Me too!!

Dell and Microsoft are devoid of originality and criticize Apple only to later copy it.

[Renegade Knight]

Maybe so but my experience with Apple just tells me they can do 80% of the job really well and 20% not at all. The 20% is normally the part I'm looking for.

[ywkhgqo]

the dell dj was actually a pretty solid mp3 player. at least the first version was. A lot cheaper than the ipod with some features that were simply better

[nicceg]

I have a Dell PDA, AXIM, my wife uses it now days. The hardware specification is really nice, even with today's standards. The software was filled with bugs and support very bad, and in the end they just cancelled the whole line. I would never ever in my life buy another Dell product.

[anon8mizer]

It's an android phone. But I don't believe it should be a "Dell" branded phone. It should be a new brand, like Lexus for Toyota. "Dell" conjures up the image of "inexpensive, functional, good enough." But smart phones are becoming fashion accessories, and a Dell branding image will not be a good thing for the phone.

Another thing is that dell is a hardware company. It does not get software. But smartphone software is such a different beast -- just try to remember how much people hated Motorola's phone software and liked Nokia's, and how much Apple kicked everybody's ass with the iPhone software... Creating a new brand, and consequently creating a separate business unit away from the hardware people, is the only way Dell will have some success in the mobile space.

[ullearn]

How about a phone from Alienware?

[jake49]

alienware is owned by dell... that phone would have a sweet deseign though

[ullearn]

My point exactly.

The drive still comes from Dell through a extension of the company that knows how to connect with the new edgey consumer. That way you don't get the "inexpensive" wal-mart Dell that you use to.

Every new smart phone that hits the market these days some how resembles the phone from the boys at Apple. RIM thought they were making a huge breakthrough when they released the Storm but it's basically a Blackberry iPhone. No new phone these days is going to top the iPhone, not with all the 3rd party apps that's available.