Comments on: Dell's rumored smartphone: Look out RIM

After targeting the enterprise for so long, it just makes sense that that it would be the Dell phone's first target, as well.

[iijoanna]

I know this article is not about MP3 players but the caption beneath this picture does bring to mind the MP3 player they had about four years ago "the Jukebox?"... .... they finally were just giving it away with desktop purchases. Yes, I got one and it is a drawer full of erasers, pencils, paperclips - you get the picture.

[tzoldbog]

From the story - "The product lines are clearly separating into consumer and enterprise brands." That couldn't me more off the mark. We are starting to see more iPhones in the enterprise space and more BlackBerrys in the consumer space. The iPhone, with Exchange integration, is becoming more and more popular among young business professionals. The BlackBerry, especially the Storm, Bold, Curve and Pearl, are showing up more and more in the hands of teens and retail-oriented consumers.

And, as others have posted, what does having a Dell server have to do with connecting to a smartphone? Dell servers don't run Dell software. They run Unix or Microsoft or IBM, all of which can be done on HP or IBM servers.

[littleM]

HP has a smartphone, an iPaq. I bet that I just doubled their advertising for it. Any smartphone based on Windows Mobile is doomed to a meager enterprise market. If they use Andriod, they will still need to partner with carriers, which is like mating with a black widow. If Dell really wants to be a player in the smartphone market, they will buy HTC.

[antonowicz69]

this looks like someone just photoshoped a picture of a blackberry

[eioguy]

UM, I believe the Dell ecosystem is called Windows. That being said, it is certainly possible that MSFT may need to partner with somebody to make a compelling WinMO phone since Palm has a winner with the Pre, and isn't really positioning it as an enterprise device (although more so than the iPhone).

Was a big dell fan for almost 10 years. They lost me over the Axim and the atrocious customer support. After the Axim I would not touch a Dell phone with a 10 ft. pole.

[SuttoXXX]

I wouldn't discount Dell. True, they have a bad track record with entering markets, failing miserably, and pulling out (ie, MP3 players, TVs, PDAs). Its funny to see all the negative comments about Dell computers. The fact is, they are well made machines that last. They aren't number one in US market share because they make shoddy plastic pieces of junk as others have stated here. I've used countless Dell machines at work and I've had nothing but positive experiences with them. I absolutely love my new Dell E6400 laptop at work. I've had such good experiences with them I bought a Studio 15 for my wife and it is a killer machine. Dell has obviously been studying the smart phone market for some time and brought in some people and companies (they bought Zing) they could potentially allow them to bring a solid value prop to this market. Do you really think they would be considering this move if they didn't have a good product to offer? Delll is putting more and more emphasis on design and I'm intrigued by some of there upcoming products (the pics of Adamo are freakin' sweet and the Inspiron Mini 10 looks cool as well) There could a surpise when (and if) they annouce something. I'm looking forward to it.

[jyiapanis]

"The product lines are clearly separating into consumer and enterprise brands. And for everyone involved, that's a good thing. It's a good bet they'll separate even further in the future."

Are they? iPhone seems to be embracing enterprise and consumer. Palm Pre ditto. Blackberry going for the consumer.

[kingrah1]

that would be great if dell put the blackberry button on there device, then they can be sued and the better apple can rule!

[mcmb03]

that picture sucks.... horrible photoshop skills there.... look at the side of the "phone" where the the black meets the gray... HUUUGEE overlap there...

[oohmyygood]

I think you're dead wrong. The smart phone market isn't separating into one for enterprise and one for consumer. On the contrary, those markets are converging into one addressing the needs of both types of users. Why? Because people are both consumers and enterprise users and they don't want their pockets bulging with all sorts of gadgets. They want one Swiss army knife smartphone with which they can do "consumer" stuff such as play music, watch movies, play games, email, web browsing, etc AND do enterprise stuff such as email, web browsing, oh and phoning.