With Rumors of a Pocket-sized Device, Dell Enters the MID Market
By: Tech Believes
Insiders have released information on Dell’s newest enterprise—a handheld device with Internet access. Unlike the recent spate of smartphones hitting the market, Dell’s new device will not be a cell phone. Rather, it will be modeled after Apple’s iPod Touch—a mobile device like the iPhone, minus the phone. The platform for the handheld device will likely be the Android software, an open source operating system developed by Google.
Rumors about the gadget surfaced soon after Wall Street Journal’s Justin Scheck published information gained from a “person who was briefed on the company’s plans.” However, plans are apparently still in the mix, as the insider reported that Dell may or may not decide to go through with the plans, which are understandably still in the early planning stages. Although conversation about such a device was in nascent form last year, key decision-makers tabled the plans, possibly due to economic uncertainty. Those plans are now being revised, and speculators forecast that Dell may have the new device ready this year.
MID—acronym for Mobile Internet Device—is technology’s opening frontier, a frontier forged by netbooks and smartphones. The Dell device would fit that category, and like Apple’s iPod Touch, be loaded with plenty of features, just not the cell phone. Unlike the iPod Touch, the Dell device will be more Internet-capable. While the Touch is confined to Internet access in WiFi hotspots, this device may have mobile freedom, through 3G connectivity. The constant Internet access will be a key difference from other mobile devices if Dell’s device comes to fruition.
In addition to online connectivity, the device will revive what had failed in the media-focused products attempted by Dell in the past. As an MP3 player, video player, and a sure variety of applications, the Dell device bears a glimmer of hope on the rough path that has been Dell’s effort to keep up with other companies which are always dishing out devices with great consumer appeal.
But better success against the giant, Apple, is notoriously difficult, especially for Dell. Portable music players didn’t work, and cell phones have had some trouble getting off the ground. However, with an MID and possible subsidy from not-yet-selected wireless carriers, Dell forges into this new venture with high hopes.
The MID is not Dell’s only experimental venture. In addition to shifting a market focus from the flagging laptop/desktop market, Dell has produced a smartphone, expected to be released in China sometime this year.