Dell Enters the Smartphone Arena

A few days ago, Dell announced the limited release of its new venture into the smartphone… A few days ago, Dell announced the limited release of its new venture into the smartphone arena.

Well, limited in that it won’t be available to Americans.

Dell will release the smartphone, dubbed the Dell Mini 3, only to China and Brazil.

But don’t worry. We’re not missing anything too exciting.

The Mini 3 cleverly lets Dell continue the naming convention it adopted when it came out with its netbook offerings, the Dell Mini 9 and Dell Mini 10.

The little smartphone, which runs the Google Android open-source smartphone operating system, appears rather underwhelming.

Underwhelming at least by iPhone and “the Perfect Storm” standards.

The Mini 3 seems unexciting because of some confusion about its specifications.

At first, according to an article in PCWorld, Dell said the phone would only be 2G compliant — vs. the new iPhone 3G — and would not support WiFi connectivity for quick Internet access when in WiFi hotspots.

Compared with the iPhone, a Dell Mini 3 without these features would not compete successfully.

The Mini 3 comes complete with a 3.5-inch touch screen and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

The touch screen matches that of the iPhone and the camera boasts a whopping 0.2 megapixel improvement over the iPhone, but the internal specifications of speed and performance pale in comparison to the Mini 3’s rivals. The Mini 3 appeared to have “lame” specifications, according to PCWorld.

So here is a dilemma.

Let’s imagine a hypothetical situation that involves Dell bringing the Mini 3 to the United States.

We must note that ComputerWorld and PCWorld both feel unsure whether Dell will bring the new smartphone to the United States.

If Dell decides to make this move, it can go one of two ways, as the specifications could cause the phone to fail immediately in the American market.

But those same specifications could come with a low price tag, and could thus find a niche in the discounted market.

People might buy the phone and deal with reduced performance for a quid pro quo reduction in cost.

So what is Dell likely to do?

For the moment, Dell will more than likely feel content with marketing to China and Brazil exclusively.

The smartphone markets in those two countries are not nearly as fierce as the market in the United States, where more people covet smartphones and more companies have the infrastructure support and marketing networks to provide them.

Dell would need to work hard in the United States and immediately compete with the entrenched smartphone products.

The cell phone company under whose service Dell attempts to release the Mini 3 will be able to give the Mini 3 a great deal of development attention.

According to PCWorld, China Mobile might already require the Mini 3 to gain 3G support if it has not already adopted it.

If Dell comes to the United States soon, it would do well to sell the phone at a good discount over its competitors, as it appears to require a great deal of research and development before it can successfully trounce the iPhone.

But the phone’s existence does affect its operating system.

ComputerWorld published an article describing the phone as a “small victory” for the Google Android operating system, even if it doesn’t get marketed to Americans directly.

The phone’s existence proves the viability of the Android operating system, and will thus make it more available for other manufacturers to develop smartphones that can run it effectively.

The more models of phones become available for Android, the more Android’s market share will likely increase.

The announcement of the Dell Mini 3 can only bring additional competition to the worldwide market, and it might begin to make the other manufacturers somewhat nervous.

The Mini 3 itself might not have the specifications to affect the smartphones already available to American consumers, but because Dell has interest, it might send chills throughout the market.