Photo: Microsoft Sweden / Flickr

Though the Windows Phone 7.5 rollout has been a success on most accounts, one area Microsoft has seen a slight setback is in manufacturer support, with reports emerging that a Dell Windows Phone 7 Mango was not on the cards.

What WPCentral reported

The report comes courtesy of WPCentral, who confirmed through Dell sources that a device they previously spotted – the Dell Wrigley – would not be released, nor would a Windows Phone 7.5 Dell handset arrive. Daniel Rubino writes: ‘Unfortunately, we confirmed through a higher up at Dell that the Wrigley is no more and won’t be released. We’re not even sure if the device ever left planning stages, to be honest.’ He continued, saying that ‘more importantly and as expected, Dell will not be having any more “Mango” devices to offer this year or next. Sure, they’ll continue to support the Dell Venue Pro, no worries there, but it looks like they are taking a break for now.’

More Dell Windows later?

WP Central did say that there was a chance, albeit speculative and slight, that a Dell Windows Phone 8 smartphone could see release. This presumes, of course, that Microsoft will call its next mobile OS that – a highly likely fact – and it presumes that Dell will still be in the smartphone game at that point – a not-so-obvious reality.

To date the PC giant has struggled with its smartphone ambitions, with the Dell Venue Pro not selling as well as was hoped, and the Dell Android handsets like the Streak also falling short of what the company was hoping it would achieve. As such support has either been reduced or pulled for the firm’s mobile devices as Dell restructures its mobile efforts. It’s a game of wait-and-see for now.

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Dell is preparing another to have another go at Apple’s immensely popular Macbook Air computer line with a new slimline computer of its own. A Cnet Report, citing industry sources ‘familiar with Dell’s plans’, indicate that the new Dell ultraslim computer could arrive at the start of 2012.

Why CES 2012

Though hard details on the next Dell ultraslim computers are scant, it’s thought the timing of the computer’s unveiling could be planned to ‘coincide with Intel’s announcement of its next-generation processor dubbed Ivy Bridge–expected to drive Ultrabook sales from the spring of 2012.’ Given Ivy Bridge will support more powerful graphics solutions, USB 3.0 and DirectX 11, the Dell computer could make for a compelling case in terms of technical capabilities, but what of aesthetic design and overall performance?

Competing with Apple, as Dell no doubt knows, goes far beyond just specs.

Gunning for Apple

Cnet reports that Dell’s overall strategy is to compete with Apple’s Macbook line of laptops, and that the new ultraslim computer is just one component of that assault. The other component could be a rumoured Dell Ultrabook, as well as the recently announced XPS 14z, which is competing directly with Apple’s  13-inch Macbook Pro.

How things change

Dell’s strategy could increasingly come under the spotlight in the ensuing months, especially in the wake of HP’s uncertainty with regards to the PC business. For its part, Dell has reaffirmed its commitment to the PC business and, though research has been superficial at best, sentiment around the company seems to be on the up again.

Incidentally, seeing Dell shape its recent releases to compete with Apple directly is fascinating considering Dell CEO Michael Dell recommended the firm  shut down and give money back to its shareholders back when Apple was struggling in 1997. How things change. Having said that, I’m very keen to see what the next Dell ultraslim laptop will be like.

Photo: Dell

With HP turning its back on its PC hardware business, many wondered what Dell computers – the second biggest computer manufacturer in the world, behind only HP – would do. Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell has since insisted that his firm has no intentions of following HP’s lead, saying that the PC business remains lucrative and interesting.

Built different

Speaking to the Financial Times, Dell said: ‘We are very distinct from some of our competitors.’ He continued, saying: ‘We believe the devices and the hardware still matter as part of the complete, end-to-end solution.’

The sheer size of the PC industry and the volumes people buy computers in are what precludes a similar move, explained Dell. ‘Think about the scale economies in our business. As a company spins off its PC business, it goes from one of the top buyers in the world of disk drives and processors and memory chips to not being one of the top five.’

HP’s exit, Dell’s opportunity

The problem, explains Dell, is that with less volume, the cost of buying components goes up – and given HP was a big buyer of storage and servers, this represents a big business opportunity.

He added that: ‘Ultimately we believe that presents an enormous opportunity for us and you can be sure we are going to seize it.’

Where to next?

HP recently unveiled plans to spin off its PC unit, as well as shutting its webOS hardware unit, which makes tablet PCs and smartphones. The company said it would instead focus on services and software. Dell, on the other hand, has continually struggled to make headway with its smartphone or tablet business, but has bounced back amongst PC makers in recent years.

It will be interesting to see how HP’s departure affects the overall PC industry and if Dell CEO Michael Dell’s position on pushing on in the high revenue, low profit margins PC business pays off.

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Dell Inc is pairing up with China’s biggest search engine Baidu to manufacture tablet PCs and smartphones that will be launched in the Chinese marketplace. The pairing will look to become competitive in a market that Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo and Apple currently dominate.

Massive market

With over 900 million mobile phone users in the country, China is a colossal market that has yet to be fully tapped into when it comes to smartphones and tablet PCs. On one level, that seems like the thinking behind the Dell Baidu partnership.

At another level, Dell tablets and smartphones haven’t been successful in North America and some parts of Europe, with some analysts calling this a desperate move to get some sort of traction. ‘I suspect this is just Dell, who has a lot of problems on the mobile and tablet front, grasping at straws to get any kind of publicity that it can to make its product more attractive,’ Michael Clendenin, MD of technology consultancy RedTech Advisors told Reuters. He continued, saying: ‘Ultimately in China, I still think it is Apple’s game, still for the iPad and iPhone.’

Exploring opportunities

When approached on the matter, a Dell spokesperson said: ‘We have a partnership with Baidu and you know we have the Streak 5 tablet, so the partnership will be in that space.’ So at this stage, the Dell Baidu relationship is not being treated with much secrecy, which is quite refreshing.

Yet, as Clendenin points out, it is difficult to see how Dell will succeed in China against Apple, where it hasn’t succeeded elsewhere. Perhaps the Baidu push could have some positive consequence, but that seems unlikely. At this stage in the tablet PC market, Dell tablets do not come up in any meaningful conversations.

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With HP stepping away from its PC business, Dell CEO Michael Dell has come forward, saying that his firm does not share Hewlett-Packard’s intentions and that Dell remained committed to the PC business.

We’re quite happy

In a post on Google+, Michael Dell wrote that: ‘Dell remains very committed to PC solutions and beyond.’ He added that ‘We’re focused on meeting your needs with proven migration services and support for multi-vendor environments.’ That in itself could be a dangling carrot for HP customers who are either confused or feel slighted by Hewlett-Packard’s sudden change of heart about its PC business.

Investing everywhere

Given various parts of the PC business – most notably netbooks – have been tanking while other parts of the PC – most notably tablet PCs – are virtually a one-player market at this point, what Dell computers will continue to invest in is equally interesting. Dell CEO Michael Dell says that consumers could count on his firm to continue to invest in: ‘Notebook, desktop, workstation, smartphone, and tablet innovations.’ He said that these products will have ‘Sustainable end-user roadmaps and long-term device availability,’ and that ‘ProSupport services that manage and secure your multi-vendor client requirements.’

Well, that’s a relief, I think

Dell CEO Michael Dell’s well-timed and likely strategic post draws immediate contrasts between how he says his firm will keep running and how Hewlett-Packard is perceived as running. Where HP’s indecisiveness and communication blunders in recent weeks has created uncharacteristic uncertainty around a publicly traded company, Dell affirms his company has ‘sustainable end-user roadmaps’, which, one look at the death of the HP TouchPad, buyers no longer expect as a minimum.

To think we’re even writing a post about colossal tech icons spinning out their PC business out and having to commit publicly to regular buyers and enterprises to support them for the long haul is crazy. Nobody could have predicted this three or four years ago.

Photo: Cian Ginty / Flickr

Dell CEO Michael Dell is done talking about PCs. The CEO of the once number one computer company in the world has focused his mind on diversifying his business in a rapidly changing computing industry where smartphones and tablet PCs are poised to take over.

Cloud computing a big focus

In recent months, Dell has been putting a focus on the ‘plumbing’ of computing and cloud computing, such as storage and security companies. This is best highlighted by Dell Computers’ recent acquisitions, including Perot Systems for $3.9 billion (£2.43b), as well as the much talked-about bidding war with Hewlett Packard for 3PAR.

PC business stable, everything else not so much

The challenge for CEO Michael Dell is that its computer business has stabilised, while the smartphone business where all the money seems to currently be, has struggled to make a dent in the market overall.

Speaking to WSJ, Michael Dell explains: ‘Two-thirds of Dell’s profit is not the PC. Of the one-third that is the PC, the vast majority of that is not consumer. I’m just level-setting what Dell is today, because I think a lot of people look at Dell and they go, “Oh, Dell is a consumer PC company.” That’s not really at all what Dell is today. Certainly we want to grow our consumer business and we want to grow it profitably.’ So, perhaps, the industry is giving his company an unduly hard time.

Caught off-guard

Admittedly, the fascinating interview had Dell’s CEO reveal areas where he was caught off guard.

When asked where he was caught unawares, he admitted: ‘I’d say [the] rapid rise of the tablet. I didn’t completely see that coming. Tablets aren’t really new, in the sense that the tablet PC idea’s been around for a while. Obviously, more recent products have been much more successful. What’s interesting [is that] business users are not going to give up smartphones. Won’t give up PCs. So now you have a PC, you have a smartphone and you have a tablet. Sounds pretty good. Industry growth. ’

Watching Dell CEO Michael Dell and his company transform in the coming years will be interesting. I still, admittedly associate the company with desktop computers and laptops, so it’ll be interesting to see how the group changes that perception.

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To say competitors are anxious about Apple’s iPad 2 juggernaut is an understatement. Who can blame them, though? It’s uncommon to see one device dominate an entire category so aggressively. Major computer manufacturer Dell, however, says that there is one area where Apple will not succeed with its tablet PC, and that is in enterprises.

You can’t win in big business, Apple!

Speaking at CIO Australia, Andy Lark, who is Dell’s global head of marketing for large enterprises and public organisations, both complimented and dissed the iPad in one breath. The Dell executive said: ‘I couldn’t be happier that Apple has created a market and built up enthusiasm but longer term, open, capable and affordable will win, not closed, high price and proprietary.’

Interesting position. Lark continued, saying: ‘Apple is great if you’ve got a lot of money and live on an island. It’s not so great if you have to exist in a diverse, open, connected enterprise; simple things become quite complex.’

It also costs too much money

Lark, who was on a bit of a roll, also took a swipe at the ‘actual’ price of the new iPad 2. He said: ‘An iPad with a keyboard, a mouse and a case [means] you’ll be at $1500 or $1600; that’s double of what you’re paying.’ That figure sure seems a little off. The Loop actually takes Lark to task, adding up the cost of the individual items Lark mentions, reaching a grand total of $666. That’s a far cry from the $1,500 mark the Dell executive suggested.

Can the iPad win in enterprise, though?

Outside of the brief pricing mishap (or is that shenanigan?), the Dell computers executive raises an interesting point. Can Apple and its new iPad 2 really penetrate enterprise? The company has always been a titan with consumers, but has long struggled for enterprise adoption at mass scale, dating back to when it was focusing primarily on its Mac business.

Some reports suggest adoption in enterprise is going through the roof, but that is still coming off a low base. We’ll wait and see how it all pans out.

Photo: Mobile Edge Laptop Cases / Flickr

Dell, once the number one computer manufacturer in the world, then number two, and recently languishing in third place, has leaped back into second position, according to an iSuppli report. What makes this turnaround rather astonishing is who the company has to thank – Apple and its netbooks sales crushing iPad.

The netbook factor

The latest iSuppli report pegs Dell at the number two spot, wedged between Hewlett-Packard and Acer. Netbooks – a big component of Acer’s business – saw sales absolutely crushed by the iPad tablet PC. This meant that, as opposed to Dell seeing unprecedented growth, Acer did not have the netbook sales they would have otherwise had to keep in second spot.

Given Dell’s presence in the netbook market is nowhere near the level of Acer’s, and that Dell still has a very strong presence in the enterprise market, the company used Acer’s netbook misfortune to snag what iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins called a ‘firm lead’ over its competitor.

Overall sales robust

Outside of the positional switch between Dell and Acer, the iSuppli report says fourth quarter sales of PCs were the best the industry had ever seen. More than 93 million units were sold in Q4 2010, up an impressive 5 per cent from the year prior. Sales for the full year totaled 345.4 million units, up an impressive 14.2 per cent on the 302.4 million units sold in 2009.

It’s your fault, iPad

With a growing chorus of analysts saying the iPad is affecting the entire PC industry, all the naysayers who proclaim it not a productivity tool are overlooking what matters most – and that is the device is stealing sales from other personal computing devices. Netbooks were always most vulnerable, and Acer is feeling it seeing netbook sales declining rapidly enough that out-of-favour Dell has been able to steal some much needed spotlight.

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The Dell Adamo laptop ‘range’ that never really became a range has been discontinued. The sleek aluminium computer, which was made to compete with Apple’s Macbook Air, has gone the way of the Dodo.

Bye, bye

CNET describes the Dell Adamo as a once ‘worthy competitor to Apple’s groundbreaking laptop. Like the Air, it had an aluminum casing, was eye-catchingly thin (at 0.65 inches), used solid-state drives long before they came into wider use, and packed ultra-power-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processors. But the Adamo, like the earlier MacBook Air models, was pricey, starting at around $2,000, when it was launched in March 2009.’

Though the Dell Adamo would later see heavy discount after heavy discount, adoption didn’t increase at a fast enough rate, forcing the company to discontinue the computer. All the while, Apple forged ahead with its Macbook Air, releasing a model in 2010 that had very positive responses in the consumer tech space.

Unable to compete with Apple on pricing

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber makes a very interesting observation, saying ‘Did you ever think you’d live to see the day when Dell couldn’t compete with Apple on PC pricing?’ It’s actually an astute observation for modern day Apple, where with its iPhone unsubsidized and even its iPad, the company’s products are often priced equal to, or cheaper than competitors’.

This unintuitive reality for Apple is due to the company being the biggest purchaser of flash memory in the world, used in smartphones, mp3 players and tablet PCs, allowing them to get preferential pricing for the goods.

It’s all bad for Dell

For the Dell Adamo, and Dell in general, the failure of this product is not encouraging. Where Dell was once the number one volume shipper of PCs in the world, the company has slid, being overtaken by HP and Acer, respectively, with Lenovo running close on their heels, too. Perhaps the death of the Adamo signals a refocusing of product strategy, so Dell can return to the top of the PC mound. Perhaps.

Photo: Dell

RIM suffered a massive blow as one of the world’s biggest computer manufacturers, Dell, has just shifted 25,000 of its employees off BlackBerry phones over to Dell handsets sporting the new Windows Phone 7 mobile OS platform.

Venue Pro over BlackBerry

Dell will shift 25,000 employees – about one quarter of the people it employs – onto its own Venue Pro handset powered by Windows Phone 7, and expects the move will slash the company’s mobile communications costs by 25 per cent. Not only is this good from a cost-savings perspective, it will also give Dell staffers some insight on their own products’ strengths and shortcomings since they will be eating their own ‘dog food’, so to speak.

As for those 25,000 used BlackBerry’s? Dell CFO Brian Gladden says that: ‘We actually had a conversation last night around creating a site on eBay where we can actually sell these BlackBerry devices.’ Ouch.

Cracking at the seams or just strategy?

This is definitely a major blow for BlackBerry to lose that many customers at once, particularly in such a high profile organisation, but it may also just be a strategic play to boost Dell’s smartphone ambitions. In this respect, it may be premature to say RIM is losing its touch with its core customer base – the enterprise space – but this does not bode well for the company.

Major Phone 7 boost

Furthermore this is a massive boost for the Windows Phone 7 mobile OS platform. Sure, 25,000 subscribers is a mere drop in the ocean when compared to the tens of millions of Android handsets shipping and the 14 million iPhones shipped in this last quarter, but it’s that particular customer base that matters. Having that many concentrated users sharing professional networks could be a massive seed and a catalyst for growth in the enterprise space.

And for Microsoft and the Windows Phone 7 mobile OS platform, any growth potential is good, especially with the all-out assault Apple and Google have launched.