The Channel Wire

November 11, 2008

Dell shot down speculation that it was planning to launch a consumer-oriented music player, despite its desire to reinvigorate its consumer line of products. On Monday, the computer manufacturer demurred on the music player, saying it isn't part of its long-term plans.

Dell declined to comment on a potential portable player, but a Dell blog post made it clear that launching a digital music player isn't in the cards.

"As we said a few months ago, our strategy focuses on content offerings and delivery platforms that mix Zing software, remote access and pre-configured media bundles across all of our devices, including licensing agreements with entertainment distributors," said the post. "It has never been about a music player."

In 2007 Dell acquired Zing, whose software allows mobile devices to receive streaming music and video. That purchase fueled rumors in the blogosphere and in the press that the company was planning on reinvigorating its effort to crack into the portable music player market, despite its previous failure to break into a market dominated by Apple's iPod.

The company has sent other mixed messages in the past regarding its stance on breaking into the music consumer market. Dell has recently increased its profile at concerts, hoping to bring more visibility to its brand among that market segment, Reuters reports.

Still, the latest Dell blog post concerning its presence in the mobile music market pretty much quashes all the speculation, confirming -- at least for now -- that Dell isn't planning on taking another run at Apple's iPod for mobile music dominance.