RumourMill: DELL's Smartphone

Sources at various titles have picked up news that DELL is on the brink of announcing a Smartphone, most likely at Mobile World Congress.

The Wall Street Journal has it the PC maker has been designing a prototype of an iPhone and BlackBerry ilk, for over a year now. They even have news that it could be of a touch screen variety too, with Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS being both likely contenders for the platform of choice.

They quoted an analyst over at Kaufman Bros., who in turn is quoting from an internal source at DELL on all the information.

Apparently, according to the title, 258 million Smartphone devices were sold last year with that figure expected to rise to 725 million this year. It wasn’t said in so many words, but we’re expecting these stats came from the analyst firm IDC.

Another analyst at that very same firm added further speculation by throwing in his two pennies worth. He mentioned it’s been a few years since DELL hired in a guy from Motorola, who was chiefly responsible for the RAZR and it was about time his recruitment showed some fruits.

Read more on the piece here, it makes for an interesting read and with Reuters running an article too endorsing the WSJ copy, it just further confirms the rumours.

With the likes of Palm showing up in Barcelona with their pre it’ll soon be a crowded place for Smartphones. We’re wondering what DELL will have to do to make the phone standout, if anything at all. We’ll all just have to wait and see, but it’s looking like interesting times are ahead.