Dell Finally Confirms: Cellphone Coming For China Mobile

Welp, so much for keeping a secret! Those far-out rumors we heard just a few months ago were apparently true, and now the suits at Dell can finally talk (somewhat) freely about their plans to finally enter the burgeoning world of cellular telephones. For whatever reason, Dell has waited for what feels like years to confirm rampant rumors that it was working on developing its very own smartphone(s), but in a brief report, we're finally told that the company famous for its Inspiron family and Mini netbook range will soon be competing with HTC, LG, Samsung, Apple and Palm in highly crowded mobile phone arena.

Spokesman Matthew Parretta has done the honors, confirming that Dell was recently showing off a prototype ("proof-of-concept") device at an event for China Mobile's application store. The company also affirmed that it was "developing mobile products for China Mobile's network, but declined comment on the type of devices or the timing." The move sounds like a brilliant one from afar. Rather than diving right in and attempting to compete with handsets that are established in the North American market place, Dell is looking to serve the planet's largest wireless subscriber base over in China. Think of it like a testing ground, a place for Dell to see what's popular and what works/doesn't work.


Of course, things won't be completely easy over in China. Rivals Acer and Asus are also planning to enter that same market, and some analysts are saying that the firm's first phone (the so-called Mini3i) will only be a 2G device running on Google's Android platform. CL King analyst Lawrence Harris said it best with this:

"It makes sense for a company like Dell to enter the smartphone market, but what they need to do is find something that sets themselves apart."

We couldn't agree more. If Dell can't figure out a way to differentiate in an already saturated market, we can probably kiss the thought of a US-bound Dell smartphone goodbye. Good luck out there Dell, history says you'll need it.