Report: Dell launching smartphone in China

The saga of Dell's smartphone continues. The computer maker is reportedly going to release its smartphone offering in China by the end of 2009, according to two analysts who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

The analysts said Dell partnered on the handset design with Chi Mei Communications, a unit of the Taiwanese electronics company Hon Hai. The Chinese software company Red Office is reportedly developing the phone's software.

Hon Hai and Dell declined to comment, but a Red Office spokeswoman said the company was working on an operating system for a smartphone for Dell. "We're still in preliminary development of the software, and haven't done any publicity on this yet," said the Red Office spokeswoman.

The analysts Reuters spoke to said they could not provide details on what carrier the phone would launch with, but said the phone would first launch in China, the world's largest wireless market in terms of subscribers, and then in the United States and Europe.

Dell's smartphone play has been shrouded in rumors for months. One glint of news came from Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros., who said in a recent research note that Dell had shopped prototypes of devices running Google's Android platform as well as Windows Mobile to various carriers. But the carriers reportedly found the Dell offerings to be dull.

Dell's recent smartphone efforts follow on the heels of the company's previous line of Axim devices, which are still being sold through eBay and other outlets. Click here to see how much people are paying for these old Dell smartphones. [1]

For more:
- see this Reuters article [2]

Related Articles:
Analyst: Dell [3] smartphone was DOA
Report: Dell [4] may launch smartphone next month
Rumor Mill: Dell [5] close to launching its smartphone
Dell [6] smartphone launch imminent?
Google [7] partnering with Dell on mobile handset?