Dell Launches Its First Smartphone in the U.S.

Posted Aug 24th 2010 4:40PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Dell (DELL)

For investors, Dell, Inc.'s (DELL) latest moves have been somewhat puzzling. Of course, it looks like the company will engage in a bidding war for 3Par (PAR), which is a high-end storage provider. Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) offered $1.6 billion for the company, which was well north of Dell's $1.15 billion offer. If Dell makes a higher bid, it would certainly be a drain on resources. After all, the company's market cap is only $22 billion whereas HP's is $89 billion.

But in the midst of the dealmaking, Dell still has to run its business. Unfortunately, things have not been so great. For example, it is only now that Dell has released a smartphone in the U.S. market.

Called the Aero, the device was supposed to launch early this year. But Dell's internal operations have shown signs of sclerosis.

The Aero costs $99.99 so long as you get a two-year contract from AT&T, Inc. (T). However, the device runs on Android 1.2, which is an older version.

The display is 3.5 inches, which is multi-touch. There is also 2GB of storage. Other features include Wi-Fi, GPS and a 5-megapizel camera.

While its an OK device, it is likely not to stand out in the marketplace -- which is getting more and more crowded. Perhaps the only interesting feature of the Aero is the low price. But this will probably be a losing strategy since you can easily get a more powerful device for a price point of just $50 more or so.

Tom Taulli is also the author of several books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and also develops iPhone apps for finance.

Tags: aero, dell aero, dell smartphone, inthenews, smartphones