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Dell Retreats from US Tablet Market

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One of the companies that entered the internet tablet market is the global computer manufacturing giant Dell. As I mentioned in yesterday’s article on the BlackBerry Playbook, breaking into the potentially lucrative tablet market is hard and more companies have failed than succeeded. Dell has acknowledged that it has also failed in its bid to become a competitive player in the market when it announced that it is getting out of the US tablet market.

Dell has stopped selling the Dell Streak 7, the company’s last remaining tablet model being sold in the US market. Last August, Dell discontinued the sales of the Dell Streak 5. The company’s Dell Streak 10 was never released in the US and may not be released at all given the turn of events. It is, however, being sold in China. [Read more…]

Dell, Baidu enter partnership to produce “Yi” smartphones

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China is one of the great untapped markets on earth and any company who does not set their eyes on the Chinese market will only be left behind.
At least that is the common belief that has been passed on for the last few years. There is truth to this because China is an exploding market with consumers that are fast to latch on to trends and have the buying power to follow those trends.

American computer manufacturer Dell is making additional inroads to the Chinese market by partnering with Baidu, one of China’s biggest companies. The agreement is for the manufacturing of smartphones and tablets that will use Baidu’s own Android-based operating system, Yi. [Read more…]

Dell Makes Netbooks Cool Again (Inspiron Duo)

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Ever since Apple graced the masses with the iPad, the demand for netbooks has more or less evaporated, as companies were forced to either reduce prices further (and lose out on profits) or attempt to reinvent what was once seen as the “poor man’s” laptop.

It looks like one company has chosen to do the latter, which a few Microsoft employees were able to demo for the rest of the world (note: video is from Dell, not Microsoft).

The core of the duo’s uniqueness is the screen itself; rather than have a convertible screen that is hinged at a single point on the chassis and rotates laterally, the duo’s lid is fixed and the screen rotates inside the bezel[.] […]

I found the duo comfortable to work on – the tight 1366 x 768 resolution, even on the 10” viewable screen area, was easy to read, and 12” body offers up a keyboard that was big enough to type on without my fingers cramping. Sound was impressively good for something this diminutive and I enjoyed singing along to the new Zac Brown Band album on Zune.  My office mates, however, did not.

In touch mode, the duo is a capable entertainment companion.  When you flip it to reveal the touchscreen, a finger friendly interface called “Dell Stage” pops up, and gives you one-touch access to your photos, movies, the Blio reader, and games.   It’s an unobtrusive overlay to Windows 7’s standard interface that’s there when you want it to be there, and hidden when you don’t. (Windows Team Blog)

The Inspiron Duo starts at $549 and may actually prove to be a serious contender against the iPad, although that depends upon how well Microsoft Windows 7 works with the netbook tablet laptop (or whatever one wants to call it).

Dell’s visionary netbook also boasts plenty of space by offering a 250 GB hard drive as well as 2 GB of RAM.

Truth be told however I’m not so sure if that last fact matters as the netbook is sporting an Atom processor which honestly are not the best processors for computers (smartphones are a different matter however).

While this netbook could prove to be a holiday blockbuster for Dell, it may also be the company’s ticket to compete against not only Apple, but HP as well (the latter who is creating a tablet for Windows 7 as well as webOS).

Is Dell Creating A Google Chrome Laptop?

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Known mostly for creating PC’s powered by Windows, it looks like Dell could be pondering a laptop powered by the search engine giant’s official operating system (aka Chrome OS).

“There are going to be unique innovations coming up in the marketplace in two, three years, with a new form of computing, we want to be on that forefront … So with Chrome or Android or anything like that we want to be one of the leaders,” [Dell’s president for Greater China and South Asia] Midha said, adding that there were no firm announcements to be made but talks were underway. (Reuters) [Read more…]

$99 laptop from Dell, not really

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11Dell and AT&T Mobility announced an offer that brings nationwide high-speed connectivity at an affordable price to Inspiron Mini 9. Through Jan. 31, 2009, you can purchase a select Inspiron Mini 9 that is regularly $449 for $99 after a $350 Dell mail-in rebate. Here’s the catch: you should purchase a qualifying two-year AT&T LaptopConnect agreement. At $60 per month, this would be around $1,440. Yikes.

The Inspiron Mini 9 is a small, easy-to-carry Internet companion that can be tuned to fit your specific needs and deeds. Minis are ideal for teens, tweens, travelers and “Tweeters” to surf the Web, chat with friends, blog, upload photos or enjoy online videos, music and games.

AT&T offers the nation’s 3G network in nearly 350 major U.S. metropolitan areas. AT&T LaptopConnect customers with a 2-year service agreement also enjoy free connectivity to the AT&T Wi-Fi network.

The $99 tag price is too tempting, however.