After years of rumours and months of clear evidence that it was getting ready to release a smartphone, Dell finally confirmed its entry into the smartphone business.
“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.”
Dell will offer the Mini 3 smartphone in Brazil through Claro and in China through China Mobile. China Mobile will launch it by the end of the month while a Claro launch is expected prior to the end of the year. The Claro version will come with 3G support whereas the China Mobile version will only support GSM/GPRS/EDGE and will not have Wi-Fi. Both will use operating systems based on the Google Android platform but Dell has not ruled out using Windows Mobile in future devices.
Dell also has existing agreements in place with other wireless providers such as Vodafone, AT&T and Verizon, suggesting that we will see the Dell Mini 3 in other markets in 2010. Rumours have already suggested an early 2010 release in the U.S. possibly with AT&T.