Dell plans to offer a
smartphone handset called the Mini 3i through a partnership with China Mobile Ltd., the world's largest handset maker. There is no set launch date for the hardware, according to the
Wall Street Journal, but China Mobile's new online platform, called Mobile Market, is reportedly set to debut today. Mobile Market will offer music, games, videos and other downloadable applications for mobile phones.
The announcement of the Mini 3i cranks up the competition in the mobile market, as Dell's new Mini 3i joins devices from Hewlett-Packard Co., Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer -- all of which have a presence in the higher-margin smartphone arena.
Launch reports say that Dell's Mini 3i is based on the Chinese-designed Open Mobile System, an Android-based platform, and is not all that cutting edge, with 2G GSM, no WiFi, a 3.2-megapixel camera (with LED flashlight) and Bluetooth.
Further, it's curious timing for Dell to expand its offerings, as recent industry reports show that sales of mobile phones are suffering from the lackluster economic climate, although smartphone sales for some vendors have continued to grow.
In May, for example, a Gartner analyst said the market was slumping. "There were some signs of a recovery in markets such as North America and China, but overall sales in the first quarter of 2009 registered the biggest quarter-on-quarter contraction since Gartner began monitoring the market on a quarterly basis in 2001," said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK.
But just last week Gartner issued a report that while mobile phone unit sales were down 6 percent in the second quarter, sales of smartphones grew 27 percent.
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