Dell's iPhone Killer rejected by carriers as too dull

[AppleInsider]

After signaling its intent to follow Apple's wildly successful iPhone into the smartphone business, Dell's first attempts to produce a phone have been rejected by the carriers for being too dull and lacking enough differentiation to stand out in a competitive environment, according to a report.

A research note published today by Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu said that Dell's new prototypes, capable of running both Windows Mobile or Google's Android, simply didn't interest the carriers.

Mobile service providers either want basic phones they can sell for free (as the majority of LG units do) or headline grabbing models that can stand out and hopefully pull new subscribers from rivals, such as AT&T's iPhone 3G, Verizon Wireless' BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile's Android G1, or Sprint's hopeful Palm Pre.

"From our conversation with supply chain and industry sources," Wu wrote, "it appears that it ultimately came down to lack of carrier interest and small subsidies, making it difficult for Dell to make a profit. In our view, the last thing Dell needs is to enter another money losing business as it seeks to preserve its operating margins of 5%-6%.” Wu noted that those figures compares with HP's 11% margins and Apple and IBM at 15%.

Wu said Dell is “going back to the drawing board in designing a cell phone with more differentiation,” that could “likely involve vertical integration of some sort including software and/or services.”

"PC guys are not going to just figure this out"

Dell's failure to successfully step from the commodity PC business into the mobile handset market should come as no surprise, as smartphones requires expertise in software platform development, consumer design savvy, and portable device engineering, all things Dell has never demonstrated any proficiency in.

That calls to mind the quote from Palm CEO Ed Colligan, who said “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in." He was specifically referring to Apple, which did "just walk in" with the iPhone launch, but carried with it a half decade of experience with the iPod and decades of experience in maintaining successful software platforms building highly customized hardware.

Some pundits have speculated that Dell may need to buy its way into smartphones, citing Palm as a target. Palm is struggling to release its new webOS and the Palm Pre as the first phone to use it. As sales of its aging Treo line collapse, Palm has been kept afloat only by millions of new venture capital injected by Elevation Partners. Were Dell to buy Palm and inherit the webOS, it would come at the expense of Windows Mobile and Android, both of which are trying to line up new licensees.

Smartphone shakeout

Microsoft is being hit particularly hard, with two of its top names from last year (Samsung and Sony Ericsson) abandoning Windows Mobile for the Symbian OS in their new flagship phones demonstrated at this year's Mobile World Congress, leaving Microsoft's main licensees LG (which also has plans to sell Android phones) and HTC (which makes 80% of the phones that use Microsoft's mobile OS, but is similarly planning Android phones and is apparently losing its business of building phones for Palm).

The smartphone market's ability to resist collapse during difficult economic times, paired with the shrinking global market for PCs, has already sent other PC makers scrambling to enter the phone business, including Acer, Asustek and Lenovo. However, the tough competition for attention in a complex market that requires building relationships with the carriers who control the retail sale of phones through service plan subsidies is not going to allow PC makers to "just walk in," as Colligan stated.

Long time phone makers Motorola and Sony Ericsson are in big trouble, with little to excite new buyers and mounting pressure to catch up with Apple's App Store, its vertical MobileMe cloud sync offerings, and its sophisticated software development tools. Even market leading Nokia is having trouble announcing plans to maintain the pace of Apple in the areas of software updates; API and development tools; and music, video, and mobile software and gaming offerings.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Quadra 610]

No surprise.

Dell is just another generic junk-box maker. So what else is new.

[e1618978]

They should give up, or buy palm.

[Roos24]

My short observation is that Apple's timing, whether smart or lucky, could not have been better.

Jan

[melgross]

It's going to be difficult to catch up.

The only thing that a Dell has going for it is the fact that it doesn't have to come up with its own OS and SDK. The problem for it is that none of those OS's and SDK's are equal the the iPhone OS and SDK.

Android has promise, but it's still pretty rough, and the SDK is even rougher. There's nothing else out there that competes on the OS level at all right now.

Win Mobile 6.5 is no improvement over 6.0, other than it can look somewhat like the iPhone GUI. Ver. 7, unless MS is scrambling to re-write it, is not supposed to be too much of an improvement over that.

Symbian is old, and has been driven about as far as it can be without a major overhaul, that might obsolete whatever programs are out there.

The Palm Pre's OS only allows HTML 5 and Java applets similar to Apple's widgets for the Dashboard. No SDK at all, of course. And so far at least, no chance of writing apps using any of the Pre's APIs. Not so hot, as people will find out once it's released.

So where will Dell and other PC makers go to?

Apple is in a market all by itself right now. Some of the biggest news is the new control functionality offered by BT, WiFi, and far more importantly, the Apple Dock connector.

This has been overlooked to a great extent by the press and others, but is likely the most significant new feature of the platform.

There is no way that Dell, or any other manufacturer at this time, or in the near future at least, can duplicate the importance of that.

[Tofino]

I love that quote almost as much as the one where balmer poo-pooh's the iphone...

[GQB]

Originally Posted by Roos24

My short observation is that Apple's timing, whether smart or lucky, could not have been better.

Jan

True to some extent, but Apple made its own timing. Without the disruption of the iPhone, do you think you'd be seeing the droves of (junk) black glass-faced 'touch' copycat phones? We'd still be punching chicklets and trying to get java craplets to work.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by melgross

It's going to be difficult to catch up.

The only thing that a Dell has going for it is the fact that it doesn't have to come up with its own OS and SDK. The problem for it is that none of those OS's and SDK's are equal the the iPhone OS and SDK.

I knew they would do something like this but I don't see the point. Except for the capacitance touchscreen the iPhone HW is pretty standard in it's capabilities. It's the SW that is making it work. I guess with the smartphone market growing so fast that even a very small partition of the market could be a financial gain for Dell.

The Palm Pre's OS only allows HTML 5 and Java applets similar to Apple's widgets for the Dashboard. No SDK at all, of course. And so far at least, no chance of writing apps using any of the Pre's APIs. Not so hot, as people will find out once it's released.

I wonder if you can really call it a background app if you just have WebKit running different webpages locally. I would think that Apple will also use HTML5's local storage on the iPhone. Can we expect them to make WebKit run in the background for Palm Pre-like background apps (as well as the notification service for real apps)?

[eddiecorwin]

Originally Posted by melgross

It's going to be difficult to catch up.

Apple is in a market all by itself right now. Some of the biggest news is the new control functionality offered by BT, WiFi, and far more importantly, the Apple Dock connector.

This has been overlooked to a great extent by the press and others, but is likely the most significant new feature of the platform.

There is no way that Dell, or any other manufacturer at this time, or in the near future at least, can duplicate the importance of that.

I agree completely. Apple's SDK is by far the best in the mobil phone market. The addition of the Apple Dock Connector is HUGE! People will now be able to hook their iPhones up to printers and h many other different types of devices. All other phones barley have the ability to communicate with other devices, let alone the means for software developers harness that ability

[eddiecorwin]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I knew they would do something like this but I don't see the point. Except for the capacitance touchscreen the iPhone HW is pretty standard in it's capabilities. It's the SW that is making it work.

Also, Apple knows how to put all of the hardware into a small beautiful package. Dell is no good at conserving the space insider their products, and most of their devices look...blah

[melgross]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I knew they would do something like this but I don't see the point. Except for the capacitance touchscreen the iPhone HW is pretty standard in it's capabilities. It's the SW that is making it work. I guess with the smartphone market growing so fast that even a very small partition of the market could be a financial gain for Dell.

It's more than that. Apple's hardware is elegant. That's very important in a consumer product. You can't overlook that. It's not the dinky features other phones may offer that makes the hardware sophisticated and useful. We've seen many people post here about how few people use those features that appear on many other phones.

So, it's nice that the features exist, but that doesn't make the device sophisticated, or advanced.

Many functions of other phones that have special chips and such will be done in software on the iPhone once a sharper camera is added, as seems likely this summer.

My other point of the post was to point out that the most important part of the hardware/software interface is that dock.

I can see a vast number of areas in which the iP/iT will completely dominate. Where other manufacturers will simply be left in the dust.

That alone makes a major difference. Too many writers have poor imaginations, so we don't see too much written about this yet.

I wonder if you can really call it a background app if you just have WebKit running different webpages locally. I would think that Apple will also use HTML5's local storage on the iPhone. Can we expect them to make WebKit run in the background for Palm Pre-like background apps (as well as the notification service for real apps)?

Who knows?

It just seems to me that having HTML 5 and Java applets running in the background are just a very basic technology. There is only so much you can do with that, as it doesn't touch the OS in any way. No getting into the functionality of the OS. No API's etc. No SDK.

No big, complex programs at any level. I'd like to see a complex, graphically intense game for the Pre like some that are already on the iP/iT.

Will we see an SDK in the future ala Apple? Again, who knows?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by melgross

Many functions of other phones that have special chips and such will be done in software on the iPhone once a sharper camera is added, as seems likely this summer.

As pointed out on another thread, if a 3rd-party thinks there is a market for a really nice digital camera for the iPhone they can make one that connects to the iPhone. It would be big and ugly for to have a 1" lens with 10Mpx attached but to some this might be a good thing.

The iPod attachments became obscene with so many pointless items. Now we'll have a real OS using that connector. I think the business sector will see a huge boost in this area, not just consumer. Those PoS devices are pretty poor devices for the price. I would think that the major companies have already seen the potential of creating a PoS CC reader and SW. Or an IR scanner or whatever. For longevity on WiFi you are fine for a day, unless the attachment needs plenty of power. If so then a built in battery pack.

I look forward to the strange devices that will be coming.iPod dock toiletpaper holders need not apply.

[SpamSandwich]

This story is rife with grammatical errors. It should be revised or it will never be picked up by the mainstream press.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by eddiecorwin

I agree completely. Apple's SDK is by far the best in the mobil phone market. The addition of the Apple Dock Connector is HUGE! People will now be able to hook their iPhones up to printers and h many other different types of devices. All other phones barley have the ability to communicate with other devices, let alone the means for software developers harness that ability

Printers are just the beginning!

Let's look at the area of health. Apple showed a beginning to that the 17th with a glucose monitor.

But it's far more than that.

Tens of millions of people in the US go to health clubs two, three, four, or even, for some seven days a week

Tens of millions more in Europe. Possibly a couple hundred million around the world!

What happens there? Most people use some heavy duty industrial build machine. so what happens with them?

You go to the machine. Cancel out the old readings. You then punch in a workout, as best as the machine will allow. You start it up and do your thing for whatever time you set, or just decide.

You then go to the next machine, and repeat. You may do some aerobics, or other exercise, possibly running or swimming.

After that, you take a shower, go home, and do it over a day or two later.

Great, right? You can even put an ipod on and listen to music.

BUT, now it can be completely different in what you get out of it.

All machines will have an iP/iT dock. You will have a BT sensor.

You go to a machine, press a sensor on your wrist, or chest.

You plug the iP/iT into the dock. The machine turns on, and a program on your iP/iT comes on. It has all of your settings programmed in. You start your exercise.

While working out, your heart rate, breathing, perspiration and other stress conditions are being monitored and input to the program. If stress levels in any area move, the machine compensates in its program of exercise speed, or level to keep pace. If any monitored area begins to move out of normal levels, the machine will know it, and a message will be on the screen, and the machine will slow down. You exercise will end on the machine when programmed levels of stress have been reached.

You remove the device, and go to the next machine where the same thing happens.

All the while the iP/iT will be looking at the total levels of stress as your time progresses, and will let you know if there is a problem.

If anything is wrong, an alert will be sent to your doctors computer or iP/iT.

The same thing is true when you run or swim.

Getting on the scale at the beginning, end, or anywhere between would have the reading added, and the time stamped, as everything else would be.

When you get home, you can review how you did, comparing it to all the other days from the past year, or whatever. Any anomalies can easily be seen anywhere.

Anything special will be in the program as well such as your glucose readings if needed, or medicines, or even diet.

You can be monitored when you sit at home, or are sleeping, if the doctors requires that from you.

This is just, if you can believe it, the BASIS of what could be done. Far more could be added. You would never be further from care, if you need it, then a phone connection. Athletes could monitor their needs better than even at the test centers they use.

I'm sure everyone can think of far more than this, in almost every area. I can think, offhand, of a bunch for auto trips.

[gwarf420]

Originally Posted by melgross

It's going to be difficult to catch up.

I agree that Dell would have an awful hard time considering they don't have any of the core competencies required for this market.

Originally Posted by melgross

The Palm Pre's OS only allows HTML 5 and Java applets similar to Apple's widgets for the Dashboard. No SDK at all, of course. And so far at least, no chance of writing apps using any of the Pre's APIs. Not so hot, as people will find out once it's released.

Locally hosted HTML and JavaScript apps shouldn't pose too much of a performance hit compared to native object code. Many strides have been made in scripting languages in recent years to the point that there is only a fractional speed difference in compiled code these days. I look forward to seeing what the end result looks like.

The Pre will have an open SDK (i.e. Use any of your favorite development tools instead of being constricted to Mac only XCode). The API is implemented using a JavaScript framework called Mojo to interact with services (the phone's features).

[melgross]

Originally Posted by gwarf420

I agree that Dell would have an awful hard time considering they don't have any of the core competencies required for this market.



Locally hosted HTML and JavaScript apps shouldn't pose too much of a performance hit compared to native object code. Many strides have been made in scripting languages in recent years to the point that there is only a fractional speed difference in compiled code these days. I look forward to seeing what the end result looks like.

The Pre will have an open SDK (i.e. Use any of your favorite development tools instead of being constricted to Mac only XCode). The API is implemented using a JavaScript framework called Mojo to interact with services (the phone's features).

Mojo is by no means the same as a real SDK. It's more like what can be done with Dashboard, not much more.

[gwarf420]

Originally Posted by melgross

You go to a machine, press a sensor on your wrist, or chest.

You plug the iP/iT into the dock. The machine turns on, and a program on your iP/iT comes on. It has all of your settings programmed in. You start your exercise.

While working out, your heart rate, breathing, perspiration and other stress conditions are being monitored and input to the program. If stress levels in any area move, the machine compensates in its program of exercise speed, or level to keep pace. If any monitored area begins to move out of normal levels, the machine will know it, and a message will be on the screen, and the machine will slow down. You exercise will end on the machine when programmed levels of stress have been reached.

You remove the device, and go to the next machine where the same thing happens.

All the while the iP/iT will be looking at the total levels of stress as your time progresses, and will let you know if there is a problem.

If anything is wrong, an alert will be sent to your doctors computer or iP/iT.

The same thing is true when you run or swim.

Getting on the scale at the beginning, end, or anywhere between would have the reading added, and the time stamped, as everything else would be.

When you get home, you can review how you did, comparing it to all the other days from the past year, or whatever. Any anomalies can easily be seen anywhere.

Anything special will be in the program as well such as your glucose readings if needed, or medicines, or even diet.

Kind of like Apple's personal fitness trainer patent(AppleInsider)?

[SkateNY]

Dell produces something dull. Just like their stock price.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

After signaling its intent to follow Apple's wildly successful iPhone into the smartphone business, Dell's first attempts to produce a phone have been rejected by the carries for being too dull and lacking enough differentiation to stand out in a competitive environment, according to a report.

A research note published today by Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu said that Dell's new prototypes, capable of running both Windows Mobile or Google's Android, simply didn't interest the carriers.

Mobile service providers either want basic phones they can sell for free (as the majority of LG units do) or headline grabbing models that can stand out and hopefully pull new subscribers from rivals, such as AT&T's iPhone 3G, Verizon Wireless' BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile's Android G1, or Sprint's hopeful Palm Pre.

"From our conversation with supply chain and industry sources," Wu wrote, "it appears that it ultimately came down to lack of carrier interest and small subsidies, making it difficult for Dell to make a profit. In our view, the last thing Dell needs is to enter another money losing business as it seeks to preserve its operating margins of 5%-6%.” Wu noted that those figures compares with HP's 11% margins and Apple and IBM at 15%.

Wu said Dell is “going back to the drawing board in designing a cell phone with more differentiation,” that could “likely involve vertical integration of some sort including software and/or services.”

"PC guys are not going to just figure this out"

Dell's failure to successfully step from the commodity PC business into the mobile handset market should come as no surprise, as smartphones requires expertise in software platform development, consumer design savvy, and portable device engineering, all things Dell has never demonstrated any proficiency in.

That calls to mind the quote from Palm CEO Ed Colligan, who said “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in." He was specifically referring to Apple, which did "just walk in" with the iPhone launch, but carried with it a half decade of experience with the iPod and decades of experience in maintaing successful software platforms building highly customized hardware.

Some pundits have speculated that Dell may need to buy its way into smartphones, citing Palm as a target. Palm is struggling to release its new webOS and the Palm Pre as the first phone to use it. As sales of its aging Treo line collapse, Palm has been kept afloat only by millions of new venture capital injected by Elevation Partners. Were Dell to buy Palm and inherit the webOS, it would come at the expense of Windows Mobile and Android, both of which are trying to line up new licensees.

Smartphone shakeout

Microsoft is being hit particularly hard, with two of its top names from last year (Samsung and Sony Ericsson) abandoning Windows Mobile for the Symbian OS in their new flagship phones demonstrated at this year's Mobile World Congress, leaving Microsoft's main licensees LG (which also has plans to sell Android phones) and HTC (which makes 80% of the phones that use Microsoft's mobile OS, but is similarly planning Android phones and is apparently losing its business of building phones for Palm).

The smartphone market's ability to resist collapse during difficult economic times, paired with the shrinking global market for PCs, has already sent other PC makers scrambling to enter the phone business, including Acer, Asustek and Lenovo. However, the tough competition for attention in a complex market that requires building relationships with the carriers who control the retail sale of phones through service plan subsidies is not going to allow PC makers to "just walk in," as Colligan stated.

Long time phone makers Motorola and Sony Ericsson are in big trouble, with little to excite new buyers and mounting pressure to catch up with Apple's App Store, its vertical MobileMe cloud sync offerings, and its sophisticated software development tools. Even market leading Nokia is having trouble announcing plans to maintain the pace of Apple in the areas of software updates; API and development tools; and music, video, and mobile software and gaming offerings.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[melgross]

Originally Posted by gwarf420

Kind of like Apple's personal fitness trainer patent(AppleInsider)?

Yes. That's part of the idea.

In order to bring that to fruition, the new BT, WiFi, and particularly the Dock Connector must be involved. OS 3 is finally doing that, and filling the last pieces of the puzzle in.

[NOFEER]

Originally Posted by Roos24

My short observation is that Apple's timing, whether smart or lucky, could not have been better.

Jan

enterprise had the blackberry
THE BUZZ for smartphones from consumers and thus "in" enterprise was
APPLE AND THE IPHONE they created the buzz, before iphone there was just free phones with limited internet that was fine for very limited view of the web,
IPHONE and apple UI made usable smartphones THE NEW WAVE
apple wasn't ahead of the curve they created the curve and the wave.
but that is what innovation will do, and the also ran to the bottom of cheap PC's like dell created nothing more than commodity level pc's for me if to get a pc i'd go lenovo, or hp

NOW FOR THE BRILLIANCE OF SJ
mac+intel+bootcamp cool plus windows if needed as time went by those that used windows still saw it fall off faster and faster, and windowscentric wasn't needed, tech ran around the inertia of MS windows didn't really matter, and people saw MAC as a more and more viable choice

THEN VISTA HAPPENED----failure pushed more to mac and apple, college students moved to mac and apple and now for generations they won't go back just like detroit vs japanese

THERE IS NO REASON TO GO BACK
apple has given people power of what the pc was to do---empower users not enslave them

integration is apple's forte and others will drift away

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Mobile service providers either want basic phones they can sell for free (as the majority of LG units do) or headline grabbing models that can stand out and hopefully pull new subscribers from rivals, such as AT&T's iPhone 3G, Verizon Wireless' BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile's Android G1, or Sprint's hopeful Palm Pre.

Wow. Anyone else see what I'm seeing?

The four major US mobile carriers are now rallying behind four very different smartphones, but with one glaring constant: none are running Windows Mobile. It's not necessarily a big surprise, but seriously, whenever WM 6.5 or WM 7 phones make it to market, who will care with alternatives like these?

[Fast Fred 1]

Originally Posted by solipsism

As pointed out on another thread, if a 3rd-party thinks there is a market for a really nice digital camera for the iPhone they can make one that connects to the iPhone. It would be big and ugly for to have a 1" lens with 10Mpx attached but to some this might be a good thing.

The iPod attachments became obscene with so many pointless items. Now we'll have a real OS using that connector. I think the business sector will see a huge boost in this area, not just consumer. Those PoS devices are pretty poor devices for the price. I would think that the major companies have already seen the potential of creating a PoS CC reader and SW. Or an IR scanner or whatever. For longevity on WiFi you are fine for a day, unless the attachment needs plenty of power. If so then a built in battery pack.

I look forward to the strange devices that will be coming.iPod dock toiletpaper holders need not apply.

I can't wait till it can make a decent cup of coffee.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Fast Fred 1

I can't wait till it can make a decent cup of coffee.

Actually, there is at least one kitchen appliance, a refrigerator, that has a dock for an iPod. While that product is quite lame I can see the potential for setting a coffee maker timer or having it ring you when your coffee is ready via WiFi or BT. Still pretty lame, but less lame than a fridge with a dock.

I think the BT APIs will come in very handy in the most unique ways this year.

[addicted44]

I think the iTouch platform might just eliminate all competition in the consumer space with the hardware extensions.

Its truly a mobile PC now with the ability to add other devices to it (kinda like how computers can have printers, speakers, etc...). One idea that comes to mind immediately (and ties in with the new iLife) is geotagging. I can absolutely see camera makers adding the ability to geotag photos by communicating with the iphone through bluetooth. It sends the iphone a message to detect coordinates and message them back (or store them, so they can be linked to the photos on the PC).

This could possibly be achieved on current cameras through a tiny bluetooth extension possibly (not sure if thats possible...).

[res08hao]

The only suits more clueless than microsoft would be Dell. They have no concept of innovation and their track record of customer service is abysmal. I own two dell laptops and they are by far the worst computers I have ever owned, including my gateway 286 4mg C:/ prompt suitcase sized first one. Dell is joined to the hip with microsoft. They both deserve to go down together.

[Rot'nApple]

"Dell's iPhone Killer rejected by carriers as too dull", couldn't you have ended that as 'too Dell'?

"Too dull" or 'too Dell', what's the dif?

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by NOFEER

enterprise had the blackberry
THE BUZZ for smartphones from consumers and thus "in" enterprise was
APPLE AND THE IPHONE they created the buzz, before iphone there was just free phones with limited internet that was fine for very limited view of the web,
IPHONE and apple UI made usable smartphones

There were smartphones before the iphone, and I don't recall any of them being free, they were at least $200 with contract where I am. Or are you talking about phones in general from a consumer perspective?

[inkswamp]

As a long-time Mac user, I have to say it's interesting to watch this kind of thing happen. And it keep repeating. Dell isn't the first company with a lot of muscle in the tech market to fail when trying to match Apple. It has happened a lot with the iPhone and the iPod and the Mac as well.

Back when Jobs returned to Apple in the late 90s, the biggest complaint about Apple was that they "made the whole widget." Industry know-it-alls used to gripe that Apple's insistence on making most of the machines (hardware/engineering, the OS, software, design, etc.) was what kept Apple so weak. I remember Jobs telling MacAddict in a brief interview back then that making the whole widget was actually Apple's strong point and they would soon start exploiting it.

Flash ahead. Suddenly, would-be competitors with Apple in music and smart phones are having an unexpectedly hard time keeping up because they don't know how to make the whole widget and therefore can only produce products that are half-assed attempts, maybe good in some ways but always coming up short in some key element. Dell should know better. Remember Dell's music player? Yeah... neither do I.

There's something perversely amusing about seeing Apple's "greatest weakness" turned around to be the very thing that nobody can compete with.

[hittrj01]

Originally Posted by Rot'nApple

"Dell's iPhone Killer rejected by carriers as too dull", couldn't you have ended that as 'too Dell'?

"Too dull" or 'too Dell', what's the dif?

I'll take it a step further and say you didn't even need to read the whole headline. I got as far as "Dell's iPhone Killer..." before I knew it couldn't end well. Dell has never once in the history of their existence made an enticing piece of equipment. Dell's claim to fame is making cheaply constructed devices with absolutely nothing to excite you.... Wait a minute, am I talking about Dell or WinMo phones?

[ThePixelDoc]

Originally Posted by melgross

Yes. That's part of the idea.

In order to bring that to fruition, the new BT, WiFi, and particularly the Dock Connector must be involved. OS 3 is finally doing that, and filling the last pieces of the puzzle in.

I agree that the healthcare industry will probably be the largest benefactor of this new tech. The missing piece of the puzzle for me is the iPhone Jumbo or iNet Book, based on the same software as the iPhone.

I envision something about the size of a paperback, less then a centimeter (1/2") thick, that can also make use of resolution independence. For older folks, a huge plus since many have eyesight problems (icons bigger). With chat… and the new connector, doctors and healthcare pros could monitor all functions from a distance... and be able to talk directly with the patient, as well as send and monitor on-time diagnosis, medicine, whatever. Third-party manu's could also make rubber holders, with large handles, etc., so that the truly aged wouldn't have a hard time holding it, or if dropped, wouldn't break it.

The cost saving... and life-saving potential would be HUGE!

PS: it is just something of this magnitude, that could justify the govt. building out broadband country-wide, and mandating through new Healthcare reform, that it be put to use.

Exciting times we live in... coming from Apple. Who woulda guessed this 3 years ago, that I'd be writing about this potential future, on an APPLE site

[nondual]

Originally Posted by ThePixelDoc

I agree that the healthcare industry will probably be the largest benefactor of this new tech. The missing piece of the puzzle for me is the iPhone Jumbo or iNet Book, based on the same software as the iPhone.

I envision something about the size of a paperback, less then a centimeter (1/2") thick, that can also make use of resolution independence. For older folks, a huge plus since many have eyesight problems (icons bigger). With chat… and the new connector, doctors and healthcare pros could monitor all functions from a distance... and be able to talk directly with the patient, as well as send and monitor on-time diagnosis, medicine, whatever. Third-party manu's could also make rubber holders, with large handles, etc., so that the truly aged wouldn't have a hard time holding it, or if dropped, wouldn't break it.

This sounds like a Kindle 2.0 with a touchscreen and the iPhone OS. I'm an RN, and my dream would be a machine with a 'chart by exception' charting system and a bluetooth that could grab vitals off an in-room machine and grab telemetry off a bluetooth telemetry box.

[Quadra 610]

Originally Posted by inkswamp

As a long-time Mac user, I have to say it's interesting to watch this kind of thing happen. And it keep repeating. Dell isn't the first company with a lot of muscle in the tech market to fail when trying to match Apple. It has happened a lot with the iPhone and the iPod and the Mac as well.

Back when Jobs returned to Apple in the late 90s, the biggest complaint about Apple was that they "made the whole widget." Industry know-it-alls used to gripe that Apple's insistence on making most of the machines (hardware/engineering, the OS, software, design, etc.) was what kept Apple so weak. I remember Jobs telling MacAddict in a brief interview back then that making the whole widget was actually Apple's strong point and they would soon start exploiting it.

Flash ahead. Suddenly, would-be competitors with Apple in music and smart phones are having an unexpectedly hard time keeping up because they don't know how to make the whole widget and therefore can only produce products that are half-assed attempts, maybe good in some ways but always coming up short in some key element. Dell should know better. Remember Dell's music player? Yeah... neither do I.

There's something perversely amusing about seeing Apple's "greatest weakness" turned around to be the very thing that nobody can compete with.

This post encapsulates the "big picture" very nicely.

The main reason I chose Apple and stick with them is precisely because they "make the whole widget."

At the time, SJ knew something the rest of the industry didn't and just couldn't "get." The same thing is true today. The industry just doesn't "get" it. The people saying we just pay more for a logo, just don't "get" it. And many of these people are the same ones who will eventually go out and buy Macs and other Apple products themselves.

The kind of jealousy felt/displayed by the competition and its users, especially Steve Ballmer - who just can't stop talking about Apple - is palpable. It's just so apparent.

The solution available to this half-asleep industry is simple, though: start giving a shit about the products that come out your door. Start putting time and energy into creating a "user experience." Don't load up a product with features at the expense of the simplicity (and hopefully beauty) of the interface. Make it a seamless out-of-the-box experience. Understand that people would rather get work done and get on with their lives than tinker and go through a learning process. Don't let third parties screw with your product, etc., etc.

The examples are legion. It's obvious, though, that very, very few outside Cupertino are getting the message.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by ThePixelDoc

I agree that the healthcare industry will probably be the largest benefactor of this new tech. The missing piece of the puzzle for me is the iPhone Jumbo or iNet Book, based on the same software as the iPhone.

I envision something about the size of a paperback, less then a centimeter (1/2") thick, that can also make use of resolution independence. For older folks, a huge plus since many have eyesight problems (icons bigger). With chat… and the new connector, doctors and healthcare pros could monitor all functions from a distance... and be able to talk directly with the patient, as well as send and monitor on-time diagnosis, medicine, whatever. Third-party manu's could also make rubber holders, with large handles, etc., so that the truly aged wouldn't have a hard time holding it, or if dropped, wouldn't break it.

The cost saving... and life-saving potential would be HUGE!

PS: it is just something of this magnitude, that could justify the govt. building out broadband country-wide, and mandating through new Healthcare reform, that it be put to use.

Exciting times we live in... coming from Apple. Who woulda guessed this 3 years ago, that I'd be writing about this potential future, on an APPLE site

Yes, I really do see this. I just hope Apple sees the broader potential than just an iP/iT sized device. I surely hope the info we're getting from normally reliable sources about Apple buying 10" screens is true.

[ghostface147]

Ha ha Dell

[johnqh]

To me, it is interesting why anyone would try to make an iPhone Killer.

Among the five/six Smartphone platforms, iPhone is clearly ahead. All the other four have clear weakness.

Before you want to be the "iPhone killer", you should try to be the #2 first. Instead of trying to copy iPhone, the right strategy is to compete against other platforms - try to create "Blackberry Killer" or "Android Killer" is way easier.

The correct strategy for Windows Mobile is to try to be Blackberry Killer. Microsoft certainly has the expertise to create an enterprise email solution for WM, and Blackberry is pretty weak in all other areas. Android, on the other hand, should try to be the Symbian killer. I am not so sure that Palm Pre will be the magic bullet for Palm.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by johnqh

To me, it is interesting why anyone would try to make an iPhone Killer.

Among the five/six Smartphone platforms, iPhone is clearly ahead. All the other four have clear weakness.

Before you want to be the "iPhone killer", you should try to be the #2 first. Instead of trying to copy iPhone, the right strategy is to compete against other platforms - try to create "Blackberry Killer" or "Android Killer" is way easier.

The correct strategy for Windows Mobile is to try to be Blackberry Killer. Microsoft certainly has the expertise to create an enterprise email solution for WM, and Blackberry is pretty weak in all other areas. Android, on the other hand, should try to be the Symbian killer. I am not so sure that Palm Pre will be the magic bullet for Palm.

A Blackberry killer will be the toughest. They have very strong business expertise. In addition, their servers and backoffice is considered to be essential to many.

The weaker OS's right now are Win Mobile, Symbian, the older Palm, and possibly Palms WEBos, as it's not even here, and has no software yet. Palm, by far, is the weakest company as well.

[johnqh]

Originally Posted by melgross

A Blackberry killer will be the toughest. They have very strong business expertise. In addition, their servers and backoffice is considered to be essential to many.

The weaker OS's right now are Win Mobile, Symbian, the older Palm, and possibly Palms WEBos, as it's not even here, and has no software yet. Palm, by far, is the weakest company as well.

Blackberry's strength is also its weakness. Microsoft and Google have the expertise to be a strong competitor with server and backoffice if they want to, and it is a clear target.

iPhone is the toughest target because it involves thousands of details which sum up as the "user experience", including how things zoom, animation, icon design, rotation etc. Dell and Microsoft won't even know what that means.

I consider the old Palm OS already dead, and I don't think Palm will survive 2 years from now.

I don't think WM is the weakest. I have a Blackberry Pearl, a WM (T-Mobile SDA, although it is kind of old) and Android. On user experience, Android > WM > Blackberry. On developer support, WM > Android > Blackberry.

[akhomerun]

From the article:

Dell's failure to successfully step from the commodity PC business into the mobile handset market should come as no surprise, as smartphones requires expertise in software platform development, consumer design savvy, and portable device engineering, all things Dell has never demonstrated any proficiency in.

Statements like this ruin great AppleInsider articles, in my opinion. The Dell DJ worked well and sold well until Dell simply didn't keep the player up to date. Dell's Pocket PCs were well designed and reasonably popular at the time. And many of Dell's PCs demonstrate great portable device engineering and consumer design saavy, see their mini 9 netbooks (is that what they are called? i forget and dont feel like looking it up)

Dell is a successful company and I would argue that they have put out a more consistent product line over the years than Apple considering Apple's history in the 90s.

Not to say I'm not an Apple fan, and I would definitely say that I'm not at all surprised at Dell making a lame smartphone. I guess a little bias isn't a terrible thing in a site for Apple fans, it's always fun to poke around at competition when they are stumbling around

[bloggerblog]

Michael Dell should shut Dell down and give the money back to the shareholders.

I couldn't help it... sorry!

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by Fast Fred 1

I can't wait till it can make a decent cup of coffee.

LOL, I don't doubt it will once a smart coffee maker puts in some wi-fi and an app for the iPhone store.

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

Michael Dell should shut Dell down and give the money back to the shareholders.

I couldn't help it... sorry!

Yup, while there is something left to give!

Originally Posted by Roos24

My short observation is that Apple's timing, whether smart or lucky, could not have been better.

Jan

Right but I suspect had Apple only entered the market now the market would still be where it was before they did enter if you see what I mean, AKA 'Status Crud'

Originally Posted by wobegon

Wow. Anyone else see what I'm seeing?

The four major US mobile carriers are now rallying behind four very different smartphones, but with one glaring constant: none are running Windows Mobile. It's not necessarily a big surprise, but seriously, whenever WM 6.5 or WM 7 phones make it to market, who will care with alternatives like these?

In a few years we will be saying that about computers too ... none of them will be running M$ OS.

Originally Posted by Rot'nApple

"Dell's iPhone Killer rejected by carriers as too dull", couldn't you have ended that as 'too Dell'?

"Too dull" or 'too Dell', what's the dif?

Michael Dull won't like that!