Rumors are swirling once again that Dell (News - Alert) is preparing to enter the market with a smartphone. And this time, there’s a picture to help support that theory.
The rumor mill began buzzing yesterday when a blurry image of a cell phone claiming to the new entry from Dell hit the Internet. The image of the Dell-branded phone, shown below, mostly was found on tech sites, including engadget mobile.
But so far, Dell is keeping quiet on the topic. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
As TMCnet reported, the PC maker has been dancing around the possibility of launching smartphones for the last few months. In March, Michael Dell, the company’s CEO hinted at the firm’s involvement in mobile Internet-enabled devices.
"It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices," Dell said at the time. "We don't have any announcements to share today, but stay tuned as when we have new news we will share that with you."
While the world waits for an answer, other companies already are giving Dell some solid competition in the smartphone market. For instance, Apple Inc. recently introduced the iPhone 3SG. As TMCnet reported, Apple (News - Alert) and AT&T will introduce the new device on June 19. Earlier this month, Palm rolled out the Pre, which reportedly sold out within hours of its launch at some stores.
Many companies are cashing in on the increasing popularity of smartphones, despite tough economic times. According to a recent AdMob (News - Alert) report, smartphone market share grew to 33 percent in February, up from 26 percent in September 2008.
Still, other research conducted by London-based Ovum (News - Alert) forecast smartphone penetration would reach 406.7 million shipments by 2014, TMCnet said in another report. As TMCnet reported earlier today, LG Electronics’ (News - Alert) mobile phones market is faring well, and the company plans to roll out three devices later this year.
One reason for the growth is that devices are becoming more of a necessity than just a nice-to-have device.
Meanwhile, Dell has been focusing its efforts on new computers entries in the form of netbooks. The company recently announced it create a netbook just for kids, the Latitude 2100. The device comes in a variety of colors– School Bus Gold, Chalkboard Black, Ball Field Green, Blue Ribbon and Schoolhouse Red, and users can personalize the back of the battery pack, TMCnet reported.
Dell also recently unveiled a one-piece computer called Studio One 19, which is designed to compete against Apple’s one-piece iMac line and HP’s TouchSmart series, TMCnet reported.
Amy Tierney is a Web editor for TMCnet, covering unified communications, telepresence, IP communications industry trends and mobile technologies. To read more of Amy’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Amy Tierney
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