Eric Z from PhoneScoop also writes for Information Week, and last week he wrote a piece for the latter publication talking about a possible "iPhone Killer" being readied by Dell, of all companies. Funny thing is, when you actually think about it the idea isn't so far fetched.
As Eric points out, Dell quit the PDA and portable music player markets earlier this year and has started selling other company's unlocked phones and mp3 players on Dell.com. And now Forbes has reported that the PC maker is working jointly with Quanta on a handheld that will incorporate an audio/video player and internet access, though no details are given about whether the device will also include a cellular radio or actually be a newly branded PDA with a more entertainment-minded focus.
Frankly I'd love to see a Dell smartphone, but I think the "iPhone Killer" tag is a bit off here (so does Eric Z, if you read past the headline and into his actual article). Dell has tried and tried to be cool and hip and, well, they're just not. But they are pretty good at making solid, feature-packed, and low-cost computers. So odds are they could churn out some kind of interesting smartphone at a decent price. Hopefully they'll make it unlocked and available direct from Dell.com while they're at it. If you believe the reports, we'll see something from them in the early part of 2008.
Read Eric Z's full article at Infomationweek from here.
