Dell's Smartphone Rejected — Too Dull 174
MBCook writes "AppleInsider has an article discussing Dell's attempt to enter the smartphone market, as well as the news that the phone was rejected by carriers as too dull. The article doesn't pull punches: 'Dell's failure to successfully step from the commodity PC business into the mobile handset market should come as no surprise, as smartphones requires expertise in software platform development, consumer design savvy, and portable device engineering, all things Dell has never demonstrated any proficiency in.'"
Is this the one Enderle was hyping? (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, given they pay him "consulting fees" I wouldn't doubt it. But maybe a contrarian viewpoint to Enderle... just take everything that he says as the "wrong" view and you'll do well.
G2 (Score:5, Insightful)
Bring on the G2 (or whatever it will be called for Sprint and Verizon) in April. I'm also curious how Nokia will respond now that they own Qt, and they've got working fully functional KDE 4 desktops on their n810 tablets.
Bring on the OLED screens that are thinner, use less battery, and have much higher resolution.
Smartphones are going to explode in the next two years. People said you didn't "need" a camera in your phone, or GPS, and they're becoming commonplace. Most people don't "need" a smartphone, but everyone will have one, and we'll find new uses for them.
Screw the carriers (Score:5, Insightful)
Screw the carriers. Just release the phone worldwide as an unlocked GSM phone.
Apple Insider (Score:5, Insightful)
Dell missed its opportunity (Score:4, Insightful)
Dell missed its opportunity when it unceremoniously dumped its PDA line, after having one of the best with the x50v they pulled away to focus on MP3 players that no one wanted delivering millions of what were nearly fanatical users straight into the hands of what would now be their competition.
Dell's strategy is all wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)
They should be shooting for volume sales of a hot platform, like their current PC strategy is now.
Instead of trying to build a gee-whiz unique product, they should be building a phone that's cheaper than an HTC G1, runs Android and is available to a variety of networks. Dull, sure, but at a pricepoint beating the G1, it doesn't have to be a flashy offering, just usable and capture the enthusiasm of the G1 fanbase and potential market. 3G, Bluetooth, Web and Android apps.
What else would they need?
Re:Dell's strategy is all wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of trying to build a gee-whiz unique product, they should be building a phone that's cheaper than an HTC G1, runs Android and is available to a variety of networks.
That sounds a lot like what they did, actually. We don't know how much they wanted for this, but it was capable of Android and Windows Mobile and they tried marketing it to multiple providers. The providers weren't interested. They want low end non-smart phones and high end smart phones.
What else would they need?
Buy in from providers and economy of scale to make it cheap enough.
carriers don't care (Score:3, Insightful)
Given the phones that have not made it to the US market, and the fact that the iPhone has to bypass the carriers all together, I do not trust their judgement on how interesting a phone might be. OTOH, given that it is a Dell, and does run an MS OS, I would assume that it was just another phone, perhaps full of gee whiz features, but not worth stocking over any other mobile device.
Perhaps they should approach Cricket or Boost Mobile. I don't think either of those has a smart phone, and Dell can likely make it cheap enough, as MS probably has some motivation to get into this extremely low level market sector.
Re:Dell missed its opportunity (Score:5, Insightful)
How so? I picked the x51v over the Ipaq hx4700 which was the current model when Dell dropped their PDA line.
Spec for spec the Axim trounced the Ipaq, it had more memory, a graphics co-processor, consumer IR, vga out, the same processor, same resolution, and a cheaper price.
Duh...Dell is stagnating (Score:3, Insightful)
Dell seems to be trying to be Apple with their smart phones and their bizarre new aluminum netbook. Commodity equipement makes only innovate in reducing their production costs not in product development/design.
Dell is in a tight spot being squeezed by Apple at the high end and other commodity PC manufacturer at the low end.
Re:Smartphones? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, I'll go back to my smartphone that suits my purposes much better. After all, I bought it, I have the right to get what I want out of my phone. Why is this always such a problem around here? And worse, who mods these people up for people having choices?
Re:Dell missed its opportunity (Score:4, Insightful)
I owned an Axim. At the time I bought it, they had the same or better specs then the iPaqs for $50-$100 less. They ran the same OS (Windows Mobile) and a year or so down the line when MS updated, Axim owners got a free update and owners of the HP model I had considered at the same time got the shaft. Really the only place HP beat them was on appearance.
It seems more likely that Dell decided there was not a lot of money to be made in pda's (they have always been a niche market) and gave up their slowly gaining market share to go chase the iPod.
Re:Phone Economics? (Score:4, Insightful)
Your behavior just hi-lights the fact that you don't understand the economics. A portion of that monthly service payment to the carrier either goes to pay off the cost of the phone subsidy or directly to the carriers profit line. At the very least get one of the free phones with it to keep as a back-up. If you don't want it then donate it to charity. But I'm sure the AT&T stockholders appreciate your contribution to their dividend checks.
Re:Is it sad (Score:5, Insightful)
People like to buy stuff from them. If Dell started to sell and support Apple PCs as just another product line, sales of Apple PCs would climb.
Maybe from the added "credibility" of being associated with Dell, but not because of how much gee whiz fun it is to buy from Dell's online store. Have you ever tried getting a straight price from them? You get different options and pricing depending on whether you go in via home or office or corporate or data center or whatever bullshit classification scheme they decide for you, then it's uselessly bare until you add to it, and then maybe there's a sale that day and maybe not, or maybe a "deal" and why the hell can't they just give you a straight price?
Try buying something from store.apple.com and compare the experience.
Some might argue that Dell is a better value because you're not paying the "Apple tax' for the user experience. That's true so long as you believe that the user experience is worthless.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
I will take one dull phone, please (Score:4, Insightful)
Ever since I've been forced to use Blackberry 8300, I long for a regular, dull phone. One where I don't have to put magnifying glasses on to know what the heck I am doing. One where I can easily do what I need without having to go through layers upon layers of incomprehensible menus.
If not for the fact that I have to use it, and that the company is paying the bill (that is the only good aspect of it), I would use it for target practice and go back to my old, dull, basic clamshell Motorola, where I could do everything with one hand without even looking at it.
Re:Screw the carriers (Score:2, Insightful)
Unfortunately it isn't that easy. I worked for the worlds biggest mobile phone vendor in retail strategy for a while. In most markets consumers have been trained that phones are worth $0 (on a monthly plan) despite the fact they end up paying more overall than if they bought them outright. This means the network operators have enormous influence. If a phone doesn't get selected for inclusion on a plan, it has nearly zero chance of selling to the mass market. Even the worlds #1 mobile phone vendor had to play that game (and they hated it).
Re:Who knew Acer had a phone? (Score:3, Insightful)
The issue shouldn't be with the carriers at all. The issue should be if the customers want the specific phone.
It seems to me that the market in the US when it comes to mobile phones isn't favoring what the customer wants but is instead enforced by the carriers.
Re:Jamaica is your example? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yet they have better service than the United States.