Rumors of Google and Dell iPhone Rival

An anonymous reader writes "Speculation is mounting that Google is plotting the launch of a mobile phone in partnership with computer giant Dell. Senior industry sources claim the two companies will reveal their plans at next month's 3GSM telecoms conference in Barcelona, although Google insiders deny an announcement is due in the near future."

Hmm

[moogied]

I don't see this happening honestly. Google tends to buy out a company instead of partnership with it. especially after the wi-max fiasco I would see them perhaps buying a smaller smartphone vendor(openmoko comes to mind) and using that.

Thing's that you're l'ble to read in the bible...

[Simon Brooke]

Ain't necessarily so.

Specifically, Google has put a lot of weight behind Android [google.com]. If Google sells an 'own brand' phone - even if it's a Google/Dell own brand phone - then that kills all other Android phones stone dead, because none of the other serious mobile phone vendors will want to be using a competitor's OS. So Google, who aren't stupid, are not going to do this.

This rumour is one of two things:

• Dell are bringing out an Android phone.
• Someone is maliciously starting a rumour in an attempt to damage Android
• And an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.

Re:but does it run linux?

[msuarezalvarez]

Anyone with taste?

Anyone with taste will tell you that experience shows that being tasteful is almost detrimental to the success of anything...

Re:...and the Zune is an iPod killer.

[C0vardeAn0nim0]

"anything-that-plays-music" is a competitor to the ipod the same way beer is a competitor to wine. you can argue they're diferent classes of beverage, but it doesn't change the fact they're competitors.

just because apple's marketing is way more efficient at creating hype, doesn't change the fact that the iphone has _hundreds_ of competitors that apeal to the "i just want a phone that makes calls" crowd, and bunch of competition on the smartphone area.

one guy here at the office offered me an iphone he brought from US, but i turned it down for a motorola ming, smaller, does everything the iphone does plus more, costs less, there's a lot of homebrew and commercial apps and is not chained to itunes. so yes, the ming IS a competitor. so are the N95, treo, blackbery, etc.

same for the ipod. i only have one because i bought used for less than half the price of a new one, otherwise i would have bought something else.

believe it or not, apple doesn't have a monopoly on cool gadgets.

Re:Competition is GOOD

[justinlindh]

(And just catching up to the Japanese!)

I always hear this, but I've never actually heard how their cell phones and service are superior. I'm not denying that they are, but can you tell me why?

Re:but does it run linux?

[AmaDaden]

I think most of us would have. Linux has always been gaining ground and improving. While Mac has made a massive comeback by making some real solid tech. MS on the other hand has just sat around making lock out tech and trying to convince everyone that anything MS did not start is a dangerous piece of hippy technology. Saying someone else sucks only works for so long before people start asking questions.

Re:Competition is GOOD

[Yvanhoe]

Three month ago, I was dining in Tokyo with some geeks. The iPhone was pretty popular, but what really got me was that he connected it to his laptop, and opened the 3G access. He told me he got 3 Mbps of symmetrical bandwidth. Unlimited access, for about 30 euros per month. We joined a video chat and put the laptop at the end of the table. It was like we were dining with people miles from there.

whatcouldpossiblygowrong

[Itchyeyes]

Kind of OT, but could we please stop tagging articles with "whatcouldpossiblygowrong"? Aside from the fact that is stopped being funny after the 2nd or 3rd time, it kind of negates the purpose of having a tag if every single article gets the same tag.

Re:...and the Zune is an iPod killer.

[jellomizer]

I use to think like that but times has changed for me. Style is more important then features for the most part. There is the need to have Features, style then nice to have features. The more features you have the more features that you really don't use, you may think you will use them but in actually you normally use only 20% of the features that are available 80% of the time. Style is important because it grabs other attentions, not features, and that in a lot of ways is a good thing. It incrases your personal contacts and allows you to get things done easier because the more poeple you know the less road blocks you occure from people you don't. Its amaizing, A person from the finance department walked by my location and saw my new MacBook Pro, Commented on it and then had a nice conversation on what I do etc... Then when it comes to getting your contract reniewed the fact that a person knows your name and what you do makes renewing and getting appoval much quicker. Don't discount the human element to technology, a lot of people like technology and espectialy for geeks it makes an easy conversation starter. It is very helpful. Having a Cell Phone that is non shiny, and plain looking (much like the zune) just doesn't grab people attention. But a Polished iPhone with a glossy glass display with color display glowing really gets peoples attention. And it helps too.

And what could make it even better?

[Rooked_One]

adding a projector into the phone...

as described by Microvision's statement that they are in talks with a major company [microvision.com]. Could you imagine a phone with a projector? I sure could... and I want one.

Re:dell isn't a technology company

[William-Ely]

I used to refer to Dell as the Intel factory outlet. Basically a company dedicated to showing off what Intel parts can do in concert with each other. A lot of my customers are surprised when I tell them that most computer manufacturers like Dell and HP use similar components to what you can buy yourself and wrap it up in a case with their logo on it that was also made by another company. Google is much better off talking to the ODM's directly instead of using Dell as a middle man. In fact I think it would be more of a turn-off to some buyers to attach the Dell name to a product since more people have associated Dell with a negative experience than they have with Google. I've never heard of anybody getting angry over Google's search results but I have seen first hand what a Dell Dimension looks like after having 10 rounds of .45's put through it.

Re:Competition is GOOD

[Albanach]

The iPhone was pretty popular, but what really got me was that he connected it to his laptop, and opened the 3G access.

Am I misreading or are you saying your geek friend was getting a 3Mbps connection via a 3G iPhone?

That would certainly have amazed me too, given the iPhone doesn't have 3G capability. I guess he could have used the iPod to get a 3Mbps WiFi connection then passed that to the laptop via Bluetooth.

I would never, ever, ever, ever buy a Google Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Google already has enough of my information, and they are dutifully adding it all to their NSA database.

So why oh why would I let Google have the rest of my information? Think about it: with a Google Phone, they will know where you are, where you've been, who you talk to, who you visit, where you shop, how long you stay there, where you work, where you live (which they probably already know), etc. There is now a feature in GoogleMaps which uses cell towers to find your location- you think they created that for no reason?

Yeah... the Googletards can chant the mantra of "don't be evil" all they want. That's not going to make me trust them, especially in light of how fast and loose they play with people's privacy.

Re:but does it run linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt it.
The iPod was the very first portable music device they ever bought.
They never even looked at or considered any other model and probably can not even name another model (except maybe the Zune but they still never looked at it).
They probably never even used or tested an iPod before buying one or maybe just looked at a friends for a few minutes.

Basically, most people have nothing to compare it too and never had any intentions of comparing the iPod to something else so the user interface was not the deciding factor.

I know, you and some others will go to extremes in a reply how you checked multiple players before deciding on an iPod but for everyone like you, they are 100 others that did not do that.
That does not mean that the interface is not well liked but that was not the reason they bought it.

My family has three Sansa devices and we have no problems at all with the interface. I have no problem with the iPod interface either.

Re:Competition is GOOD

[AKAImBatman]

In europe desipte having massive roaming charges everyone uses GSM phones. you can take your phone anywhere, swap out your normal SIM card and put in a local prepaid one and continue on.

Ummm... wtf? We do the exact same thing here in the US. For example, when my wife needed a replacement Razr (something blew internally), I saved the SIM card and stuck it in an old Nokia we had lying around. My wife continued to use the Nokia until her new Razr arrived. I popped the SIM card in the replacement phone, and she was up and running again.

I made sure to store her phone #s to the SIM card as well, so that she would have them on the other two handsets. I backed the other data up using a USB mini cable, which I was then able to plunk into the new Razr when she got it.

We may be lagging with Japan, but I really don't understand your comparison with Europe.

Re:Dell will lose even more money

[superflippy]

Dell is good at selling commodity products to businesses and value consumers.

Not even that. In my university research group we stopped buying Dells because the brand-new machines consistently arrived with so many defects (e.g. drives installed improperly) and were just difficult to work with. For example, we bought two high-end workstations that within weeks of each other. After a while we decided to move the extra memory from one to the other and discovered we couldn't because even though they were exactly the same model built and nearly the same time they used different internal components. I guess Dell found a cheaper supplier for some part and changed the innards but not the model number, or else they were assembled at 2 different factories and Dell doesn't care that there's no consistency among their manufacturers.

I wouldn't buy a Dell handheld for any reason.

We're a rare breed

[sarysa]

I won't say "dying breed" because there will always be people inclined to take function over fashion, but anyone in marketing will tell you that style, more than function, brings in the green. Function appeals to a niche market.

Incidentally, I purchased a Zune last month. Still a little sore over Apple's treatment of third party developers re: iPhone... (which is an even rarer take than function > style)

Re:Competition is GOOD

[prockcore]

You're lying on so many levels. Let us count the ways:

1. iPhone is not available in Japan because it doesn't support wCDMA/EVDO
2. iPhone can't be tethered.
3. iPhone doesn't have 3G.
4. Japan's fastest network maxes out at 2.4Mbs (and is not symmetric: 2.4 down, 144kbps up)
5. Japan doesn't use euros.

Google and Dell?

[qazwart]

Nope, doesn't sound right. Google is not coming out with a gPhone jointly developed with Dell. Otherwise, they'd be competing against their own customers.

What might be happening is that Dell is designing a phone based upon Android (like many other hardware vendors will be doing). Google may be giving them some technical assistance since --if the reports are true-- Dell would be one of the first vendors actually building a phone based upon Android.

It's like saying my company and Microsoft are jointly developing a new project because I'm using VisualStudio, and I have a support contract with Microsoft.

Now, whether the new Dell phone will fly is another question since all hardware manufacturers still need to have tie-ins with some cellphone service provider. If Dell is creating such a phone, we can count Verizon out as a possible cellphone service provider since they refuse to have anything to do with Android.

Wonder how the 700Mhz auctions are going...