By Wailin Wong | The first U.S. smartphone by Dell will arrive “soon” at AT&T, marking the computer maker’s long-awaited debut in mobile phones.
Dell’s efforts in phones are led by Ron Garriques, the former chief of Schaumburg-based Motorola’s cell phone unit. He was hired by Dell to lead the company’s portfolio of consumer products, which includes phones. Dell has a small office in the Chicago area dedicated to mobile phones.
The Dell smartphone is called the Aero and will run Android, Google’s
operating system for mobile phones. AT&T said the phone is coming
“soon” and will have a “new, beautiful custom user interface,” but did
not offer further details on availability, pricing or features.
A variety of mobile phone manufacturers are planning to release Android
smartphones this year, as the number of applications available for the
platform also continues to grow. Motorola’s 2010 portfolio comprises
mainly Android smartphones.
As an owner of a Dell Axim X51V PDA, which Dell abandoned support for I would be very cautious about buying anything from Dell that isn’t part of their core business. Dell could decide that they aren’t interested in this market segment and just abandon their customers. At least they choose Android as an O.S. would at least take some of the worry away from customers about Dell support.