Rumor Mill: Should Dell buy Palm?

The speculation continues to swirl around Dell's possible entry into the smartphone or Mobile Internet Device (MID) market. Earlier this month an analyst said that carriers were not interested in any of the smartphone prototypes from Dell, so now some are wondering if Dell will buy Palm as a way to enter the market.

Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros., said in a recent research note that Dell had shopped prototypes of devices running on Google's Android platform as well as on Windows Mobile to various carriers. But the carriers found the Dell offerings to be dull and apparently thought Dell's prototypes were not differentiated enough compared to products from HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung.

This has led many analysts to wonder whether Dell should acquire Palm as a way to get into the already crowded smartphone market. Wu speculated at that possibility, as did other analysts earlier this week who said that a Dell-Palm partnership could pose a threat to Apple.

Meanwhile Dell continues to fan the flames around it's potential entry into the market. "It is true that we are exploring smaller screen devices," CEO Michael said in a speech in Tokyo on Tuesday. "We don't have any announcements to share today, but stay tuned as when we have new news we will share that with you."

For more:
- see this article [1]
- see this BusinessWeek article
[2]

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