Dell Discontinues U.S. Smartphones, Plans On New Mobile Devices This Year

Dell has discontinued its Venue and Venue Pro smartphone lines in the U.S., eliminating the last of its U.S. mobile device offerings. The phones, which launched starting in late 2010, had been available running either Google’s Android or Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS.

The Venue and Venue Pro lines will continue to sell outside of the U.S., Dell spokesperson Ellen Murphy told CRN. The Venue Pro will be available in India, and the Venue in Korea.

Murphy said that the discontinuation was spurred because "mobility products typically have shorter lifecycles than laptops and desktops." The PC maker also pulled its Android-based Streak 7-inch tablet from U.S. shelves in December, its 5-inch Steak in August. A 10-inch version continues to sell in China.

[Related: Lenovo Reaffirms Android Commitment In Wake Of Dell Streak 7 Demise ]

Despite the elimination of its last-standing U.S. tablet and smartphone lines, Murphy said Dell does not plan on exiting the mobile market entirely. Sometime later this year, she said, the company will launch new tablet and smartphone lines in the U.S.

Murphy declined to comment on which operating systems the new Dell mobile devices will run later this year, but some solution providers had speculated that Dell discontinued the Streak tablet last year as part of a larger effort to transition all of its mobile devices from Android to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 platform. And Dell CEO Michael Dell has expressed openly his interest in the new OS.

"We are very aligned with Microsoft around Windows 8. You'll hear more about Windows 8 from us and see a wide range of products released," Dell told reporters at Dell World 2011 in October. "Android is certainly another opportunity as well, but that market has not developed to the expectations they would have had."