Dell drops strongest smartphone hint yet

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 25 Mar 2009 at 10:32

Michael Dell has dropped the strongest hint yet that his company is developing a smartphone.

"For the last three years, we have integrated 3G radios into our notebooks," Dell told reporters at a Tokyo event. "We already have agreements with many mobile carriers around netbook devices, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that we would have smaller mobile internet devices or smartphones in the future."

Rumours regarding a Dell smartphone have been doing the rounds ever since Apple first announced the iPhone. However, Dell said he was particularly interested in the "ecosystem" that has developed around the handsets, referring to the apps shops which have become big business for smartphone makers.

Apple pioneered the service with it wildly successful iTunes apps store, and was followed by Google which has opened a marketplace for apps running on its Android operating system. Those two were recently joined by Nokia, which leapt onto the bandwagon last month.

Despite tantalising reporters with hints, however, Dell refused to confirm any specifics: "It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices. We don't have any announcements to share today, but stay tuned as when we have new news we will share that with you."

Rumours from earlier in the week suggest that Dell has already showed off some Windows Mobile and Android-powered handsets to mobile carriers, greeting mass indifference due to a "lacked differentiation."