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If at first you don't succeed ... It looks like Dell will try its hand once again on a smart, handheld device with apparent plans to jump into the smart phone market.
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AP |
The Wall Street Journal says Dell has come up with handsets running both Android from Google and Windows Mobile from Microsoft, a version with a touchscreen, ala Apple's iPhone and Pre from Palm, and one with a slide-out QWERTY keypad.
Is anyone surprised by this?
Speculation was rife last year when Google [GOOG
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] was preparing to release its own mobile operating system that Dell back then would release its own handset running it. That didn't happen.
Then, as Palm [PALM
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] descended into the abyss of irrelevance, there was widespread speculation that Dell would buy it. That didn't happen either.
When Dell hired former Motorola executive Ron Garriques, there was speculation that he was brought on board to launch Dell's handset initiatives. That didn't happen because of his non-compete clause.
Nevermind that all the while whenever he was asked, Dell CEO Michael Dell poo-poohed the idea, referring to an already crowded smart phone sector, and the difficulty of breaking into the dominance of Research in Motion [RIMM
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] and Apple [AAPL
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].
What's amazing to me is how long this company's hand-wringing has gone on. Dell has watched Apple and Research in Motion, and Samsung and Nokia tighten their control at the expense of just about everyone else trying to gain entry. Palm grabbed headlines with the Pre, but we still don't have a release date or price -- and it'll run on Sprint Nextel [S
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] -- so no one's really sure how much of a competitor it'll be.
Plus, why Dell decided to re-invent the wheel when it could've bought Palm for a song last year is beyond me. Unless it shows just how messed up Palm was that even a company behind the 8-ball such as Dell didn't think taking out Palm was worth it. Ouch.
Dell has been a sore under-performer since its prodigal, namesake founder returned to rescue it. The company continues to lose ground against Hewlett-Packard [HPQ
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], its stock [DELL
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] -- down 60 percent last year, is now trading below $10 a share. It's plagued by layoffs, hiring freezes and cost-cutting. And now, to try to improve things, it's trying to enter one of the most competitive sectors in all of tech.
Dell apparently won't confirm a smart-phone entry, and the Journal says it could still abandon its plans. Seems this would have made far more sense a year ago, or two, or three. Instead, Dell becomes a Johnny-come-lately to an already very crowded party, at a time when wireless providers Verizon, AT&T and Sprint all seem to be suffering.
Dell's success here, now, or well into the future is everything but certain.
Questions? Comments?
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