Having struggled to make a convincing entry into the smartphone market, Dell's fortunes have been given a significant boost following the agreement with Telefonica O2 to market Dell Android handsets into a wide range of countries in Europe and Latin America.
Interestingly, Telefonica O2 has "asked" Dell to collaborate with the Spanish giant to develop new products and services--a trend the company is increasingly adopting with regard to strongly influencing the design and user experience of its devices. Japanese operators, is particular NTT DoCoMo, successfully implemented this policy many years ago by dictating its requirements to handset suppliers.
This move by Telefonica O2, which could be seen as a distinct snub to the notably less-flexible Nokia, will be hailed by Dell as a sign that it will work with mobile operators by adapting its designs and business processes to best fit with an operator's requirement.
Without detailing when or where these specifically tailored Dell Android handsets might appear, a joint statement from the two firms said that the partnership would focus on three areas: "Providing customers with choices they value most now, delivering next generation solutions first, enhancing the digital customer experience and driving information communications technologies to market."
Dell's Telefonica deal is likely to include tablets and netbooks, as well as smartphones.
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