Dell to do the smartphone needful?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
It’s a familiar phrase, a cliche even, that Dell Inc. should heed as it prepares to re-enter the handheld/smartphone market perhaps next year.
The company best known for its bland desktop computers, has been searching high and low for higher-growth opportunities, as revenue per personal computer shipment continues to slip and appears to again believe the smartphone/handheld market is a viable opportunity (how about that?!)
Dell failed miserably with its last crack at the smartphone market mostly because its handhelds made Apple’s old Newton product look like an iPhone.
Anyway, speculation has been rampant that Dell will enter the market since the company’s hiring of ex-Motorola executive Ron Garriques to head its consumer division last year.
Why Dell thinks it’s well suited to enter this increasingly competitive market is beyond me. Nevertheless, the company appears to poised enter the market, perhaps sometime after it launches an ultra mobile PC line.
If and when Dell starts shipping smartphones, it’s obviously going to have to take a different tact to be successful. Here are some thoughts as to how Dell may improve its fortunes in the smartphone market.
1) offer a smartphone that is moderately stylish. My first thought when I think of a Dell product now? A large desktop computer with a big honkin’ CRT monitor attached to it. Need help with it? Call a tech support person Bangalore, India. Not exactly my idea of a great personal computing experience.
2) focus on markets other than North America. Not sure how Dell’s brand fares in China (probably not well) but the company should emphasize sales efforts in other higher-growth emerging markets such as India. While there is still lots of room for smartphone growth in North America, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, RIM, Sony Ericsson and Apple are established brands with relatively affordable and in many cases stylish models.
3) Offer a different OS and GUI. The world doesn’t need another smartphone that runs Windows Mobile. How about a smartphone powered by Google’s Android operating system? Or at least offer customers both models. The low-cost Android OS might very well fit with Dell’s approach to computing.
Comments
6 Responses to “Dell to do the smartphone needful?”
Leave a Reply
-
KR In Your Reader
-
My LinkedIn Profile
video footage of George Bush making the following statement: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A
Just a couple of quick notes:
1. Dell does very well in China (news.google.com - search Michael Dell Beijing).
2. If you Google - Dell Google Phone - you will see that it appears Dell is teaming up with Google on their new smartphone.
3. You’re mostly right on design…it’s been uninspiring. However, at CES Dell revealed several very sharp looking peoducts and one of the session speakers said that with the new dedisgns that Dell is out-appling Apple.
Jason,
Thanks for your note.
Dell, like many other U.S. multinationals, is growing shipments in regions of the world such as Asia-Pacific.
Dell’s market share I believe is quite small in the region and there are other brands that fare better I believe.
On your point about a Dell-Google phone, I see there are rumours and speculation about a partnership between the two companies but nothing has been confirmed. I also note your comment seemed to originate from a Dell Americas server.
Do you have something you want to announce? Do you work for the company?
Third, Dell has a long ways to go before it even approaches Apple or a number of other consumer electronics companies with respect to product design. It’s that simple.
Kevin:
I do work at Dell, and while I have nothing to *announce*, I will say I am always amazed at how quickly rumor and speculation is seen as credible, and reported as such. I also have a couple of thoughts on your posts:
…Dell failed miserably with its last crack at the smartphone market mostly because its handhelds made Apple’s old Newton product look like an iPhone. …
This may be a nit but Dell has never taken a crack at the smartphone market so to say we failed is a bit of a reach. We DID offer best-in-class pen-based PDAs – and with each generation upped the ante in terms of features and style. Customer response and loyalty to the Axim product line was enthusiastic. We did exit the pen-based PDA business because the market was shrinking, and Smartphones have all but overrun the hand-held device market.
…The company best known for its bland desktop computers,..
Maybe you haven’t seen any of the multiple articles, blogs and posts in the last year that have recognized Dell for making some pretty significant strides in terms of design – like the XPS M1330 laptop. We’ve received more awards this year from a variety of professional industrial design competitions around the world, than in the last five years cumulatively.
…focus on markets other than North America.… the company should emphasize sales efforts in other higher-growth emerging markets such as India. …
Seems you and Michael Dell are on the same page with this one. He’s quoted on the Wall Street Journal today confirming we are doing just that – developing new products specifically for China and India.
Hi,
Thanks for the note and feedback.
On first reference I referred to it as the smartphone/handheld market. I did as much simply because mobile device vendors such as Palm and Apple, have offerings in both categories.
Perhaps I should have done the same throughout the post.
Overall, seems like Dell is heading in the right direction on second try.
Thanks again for your comment.
Kevin
You’ll also note the question mark at the end of my blog post headline, the phrase “if and when” with respect to Dell’s possible entry into the smartphone market and the “speculation” about the possible move.