Dell's New Smartphone Designs Flop as "Boring"

It's no secret that Dell, which dropped out of the PDA market years ago, has decided to get into smartphones. Unfortunately, Dell's initial designs have failed to wow the carriers.

Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu wrote that Dell's new entries in the smartphone field, both Windows Mobile and Android, have so far failed to wow the carriers.

"From our conversations with supply chain and industry sources, it appears that it ultimately came down to lack of carrier interest.

"Palm Pre has not helped, as it has generated interest from carriers as a viable competitor."

This probably isn't a good time for Dell to be looking to enter the smartphone arena. The recession has led to weakening handset sales, and Sony Ericsson offered a stark reminder of it on Friday, issuing a warning that it expected to sell only about 14 million phones during the first quarter of 2009, down 8.3 million phones from the same period last year.

The smartphone field is also already crowded, and both the iPhone and the Palm Pre are garnering the lion's share of the attention right now. A Dell entry just doesn't have buzz.

Wu added that Dell has not given up on a smartphone, though it has "gone back to the drawing board."