Dell confirms plans to launch smartphone
By MarketWatch
Nov. 13, 2009, 8:22 a.m. EST
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Dell Inc. confirmed plans Friday to launch the Mini 3, a so-called smartphone designed around Google Inc.'s Android platform.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) said it will distribute its new smartphones through China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) , which has more than 500 million subscribers, and Claro, which serves more than 42 million people in Brazil as part of the network operated by America Movil (NYSE:AMX) .
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More details about the smartphones will be released on a partner-by-partner basis when the devices are available in stores, the company said. It expects the Mini 3 to be available through China Mobile by late November and through Claro by the end of the year.
"Our entry ... is a logical extension of Dell's consumer product evolution over the past two years," said Ron Garriques, president of Dell's global consumer group.
In August, Dell began hinting that it would enter the mobile-phone market when it showed off a small, mobile device at an event in China.
Dell said it was the first mobile PC manufacturer to embed China Mobile's third-generation technology and services into its netbooks.
Android, the much-discussed software platform developed by Internet-search giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) , is part of the Droid handset from Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) that hit the market earlier this month. See story on market's initial reaction to the Droid.
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