Dell Mini 3, Headed to China

Dell has finally confirmed what has been bouncing around the market for some time, that it is entering the smartphone business.

It’s not saying very much about its strategy, other than that it is using Google’s Android operating system. (That, in itself, confirms what is becoming clear about Android: That it is now the Windows of cellphones, the operating system for hardware companies that don’t write their own operating systems.)

What Dell is doing is not starting by fighting head-to-head with Samsung, HTC, Motorola (not to mention Apple and Research in Motion) in the United States. Rather it debuting its products in two big developing markets where, presumably, its core strength in delivering generic technology cheaply will be valued.

Dell said it will distribute its first Android handset, the Mini 3, through China Mobile, the largest phone company in the world, with half a billion customers. In Brazil, the phone will be sold through Claro, the Brazilian wireless outpost of América Móvil, a big chain of wireless companies controlled by Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican financier.

The company did not release any specifications for the Mini 3 handset. It released a few photos that make it clear that the phones are thin touch-screen models with no physical keyboards.

A prototype of the Mini 3, which reportedly surfaced in August, had a 3.5-inch, 360-by-640 resolution screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera and no Wi-Fi. We at least know that the phone will run on Google’s Android platform, but even that tells us nothing about version or user interface.

Dell explained its secrecy by saying it will cater the Mini 3′s features to the needs of each country. It seems like Dell is trying not to make a splash in the United States with whatever it introduces overseas. We’ve got nice selection of competitive smartphones here, so I understand why the company would want to avoid introducing something that underwhelms. At least now, Dell can reserve the right to improve the phone before bringing it stateside, if the company does so at all.

Specs, aside, there are historical reasons to be skeptical of the Mini 3′s success. As a gadget maker, Dell hasn’t been particularly successful. Exhibit A is the DJ Ditty, an MP3 player Dell introduced in the fall of 2005. The DJ Ditty was criticized for being hard to use, and it didn’t sell well. Less than a year later, Dell discontinued the gadget and pulled out of the MP3 player business altogether.

A more successful product was the Dell Axim, a line of PDAs that the company debuted in 2002. The Axim had a 5-year run, and was well-liked, but the PDA market itself died in the process. Dell cited a “steadily declining market for pen-based PDAs” as its reason for discontinuing the line.

The common factor is Dell’s late arrival to both markets, and its failure to set any major trends in either case. Unless Dell’s got something killer up its sleeve, the same will hold true for the Mini 3. In computers, it’s okay to do what everyone else is doing, as long as the product is innovative, solid and the price is reasonable (think Apple’s introduction of the iPod). But the smartphone market is fierce right now, and companies must constantly innovate to stay on top. Innovative the Dell Mini 3 is not.

If the Mini 3 comes to the United States, I imagine it’ll run with the pack just fine, but I don’t think the smartphone market is done evolving yet, and Dell hasn’t proven that its gadgets are fit to survive the long haul.

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