Dell Venue Pro Smartphone Earns Mixed Reactions From Partners

Dell earned some attention at the Windows 7 launch on Monday with its new Venue Pro smartphone for some interesting features, including "ruggedized" Gorilla Glass protecting a 4.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen and a portrait slider for a QWERTY keyboard. But the Venue Pro also has raised some questions about Dell's overall approach to mobile devices.

For one thing, Dell has already tied its mobile future to Google's Android OS, but now with the Venue Pro it has its first Windows Phone 7-based offering. And despite positive early reviews, some of Dell's channel partners aren’t bullish on the smartphone's prospects in a crowded mobile market.

The main issue VARs have is that Dell's push into the mobile market may be a case of too little, too late. With the Venue Pro, Dell faces the challenge of trying to distinguish itself among its many competitors. "I don't know what the adoption rate is going to be for a Dell-branded phone," said one solution provider, who requested anonymity. "Dell's a bit late to the game, and smartphones are very cultural -- they need to have a 'Wow' factor. That's definitely the case with iPhone and Android."

Nor is it clear whether Dell's success or failure would have much of an impact on the channel as a whole, which Dell has avoided historically in favor of offering its own solutions to customers as a complete IT stack.

Next: Innovation At Dell

That being said, some Dell partners are intrigued by the prospect of innovation at Dell, and its recognition that its niche traditional PC market is being threatened by the growing popularity of tablets.

"Dell notoriously is not perceived as an innovator, but they're starting to do things with design and creativity," said one solution provider, who requested anonymity. "They can't afford anymore hiccups, because laptops are being cannibalized by tablets," he added. "Clearly they're putting their foot in the sand with this."

Another solution provider, who also asked not to be named, says Dell's previous efforts in the mobile device space haven't succeeded. This, combined with the nondescript nature of the Venue Pro and Dell's choice of the Windows 7 platform, doesn't bode well for the future, the source said.

<a href=" https://www.crn.com/news/client-devices/227400468/dell-targets-health-care-customers-with-streak-smartphone.htm\\> Last month, Dell released the Streak </a> for the Android OS, raising questions about the platform of choice -- as well as the definition of the tern " tablet."="" the="" 5-inch,="" 220="" gram="" hybrid="" straddles="" line="" between="" pad="" and="" phone,="" dell="" has="" oriented="" it="" toward="" critical="" computing="" solutions="" for="" health-care="" customers="" rather="" than="" pursuing="" commercial="" space="" as="" iphone="" droid="" have.="" "I question the model and their strategy," said the source. "I don't hold much hope for Windows Phone 7. They tried way back and it was cool, there was nothing out like it. But how many apps does it have? Success is going to come from the cool factor and the apps."