Does Dell Have The Right Answer for China?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 13

Dell confirmed its entry into the smart phone business this morning, almost three months after its marquee partner—mega-carrier China Mobile, owner the world’s largest cellular network—announced that it would offer a Dell phone to its 500 million or so subscribers. On the face of it, this seems to be a pretty clunky way to announce the new phone, called the Mini 3.

And yet Dell’s actual entry into the market comes on the heels of Apple’s disappointing official launch in China, where it’s hooked up with smaller carrier China Unicom. While the Chinese seem to love unlocked iPhones, they’re not willing to pay the exorbitant price of $880 or more—especially for a device that’s had its Wifi capability turned off to comply with China Unicom’s demands. The Dell phone doesn’t support Wifi either, and I haven’t seen an official price for it yet. But my understanding is they are aiming at the lower-end, more affordable end of the smart-phone spectrum.

Dell still has plenty of competition to worry about, since China Mobile has a stable of ten device-makers developing to its oPhone platform, including LG, Philips and Samsung. All will be selling devices built on Google’s Android standard. That’s terrific for China Mobile and probably for Google, but means a fragmented market for the handset crowd. So while millions of phones will be sold, it’s hard to imagine a true break-out hit emerging. And it’s harder to imagine that break-out hit coming from Dell.

Still, it’s nice to see Dell back in phase with the market. So often over the past few years, it seemed to have the wrong emphasis relative to the market. When the economy was earlier this decade, it’s products and brand were considered too pedestrian by many. Then, just as the economy tanked, Dell was trying to go up market with more stylish, design-oriented PCs.

Here’s Dell’s full release, after the break.

Dell today confirmed plans to enter the smart phone business and announced partnerships with two of the world’s largest mobile operators.

Dell plans to distribute its new Mini 3 smart phones through China Mobile, the largest telecommunications company in the world with more than 500 million customers, and Claro, which serves more than 42 million people in Brazil as part of the America Movil network.

Entry into the smart phone category reflects Dell’s continued expansion into mobile internet products and services through value-added relationships with leading operators. Earlier this year Dell was the first mobile PC manufacturer to embed China Mobile’s 3G technology and services into its netbooks and quickly became the leading seller of netbooks through retail outlets in China. In addition Dell has existing agreements with other leading global telecom providers, including Vodafone in Europe; Australia/New Zealand, AT&T and Verizon in the U.S.; M1 and Starhub in Singapore; and Maxis in Malaysia, creating more opportunities to meet the needs of a connected lifestyle.

“Our entry into the smart phone category is a logical extension of Dell’s consumer product evolution over the past two years,” said Ron Garriques, President, Dell Global Consumer Group. “We are developing smaller and smarter mobile products that enable our customers to take their internet experience out of the home and do the things they want to do whenever and wherever they want.“

“This signals an important milestone in the long term partnership between China Mobile and Dell,” said a China Mobile spokesperson. “We are excited for Dell to be among the first manufacturers to introduce new technology based on the OPhone platform. We look forward to working with Dell as it brings innovative new products and services to add value to our customers’ lives.”

“As a leading innovation company in Brazil, Claro is proud of being the first wireless carrier in the world offering the 3G version of Dell’s smart phone. This confirms the Brazilian market strength and Claro as a leading actor in introducing new technology products and services to the country”, said João Cox, president for Claro.

The initial Mini 3 smart phones are designed around the Android platform to best deliver power, flexibility and customization opportunities for both users and carriers.

Dell’s Mini 3 smart phones reflect the elegant look and style that demonstrates Dell’s commitment to design innovation. Details of phone models will be announced on a partner-by-partner basis when devices are available in stores, anticipated in late November for China Mobile and year’s end for Claro.

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