Around the Net
Dell Suspends Smartphone Strategy
- PC World, Thursday, March 29, 2012 1:08 PM
News that Dell has stopped selling smartphones domestically raised one big question, this week: Who knew Dell sold smartphones? Still, the computer maker apparently did, and plans to tweak its mobile strategy to focus more on emerging markets and higher-margin products. “It's ready to push the reset button on its tablet and smartphone business after many missteps,” reports PCWorld, citing comments from Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.
"If you're not a Motorola, RIM or Apple, people won't take you seriously," Gold said. Dell does plans on introducing more mobile products in the U.S. later this year, but no smartphones. The company is widely believed to be preparing a big push into tablet devices. As with smartphones, however, the degree to which Dell can compete with a mobile leader like Apple remains questionable.
Likely, rival down-market devices that run Google’s Android operating system have more to fear from Dell. One of the company’s smartphones, the Venue, was actually offered with Android as well as Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating systems.
