"Today’s Wall Street Journal has an intriguing story about Dell’s apparent plans to enter the smart phone business. It’s not clear what platform Dell will use. Apparently Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile are on the table. Maybe they’ll use both. But here’s the detail that caught my attention: The phones are being designed in an office in the Chicago area. That to me says this Dell phone will essentially be designed by former Motorola people."
It would not surprise me to see Dell hire ex-Motorola employees to design and develop their new smartphones. However there are a few industrial design firms in the Chicago area that have worked with Motorola in the past and could be working with Dell in the future. I think the real interesting part of this story is how the Dell smartphone rumors, just like the Zune Phone rumors, will not die. There has been speculation for years that Dell would jump back into the smartphone realm but to be honest I really doubt we will see this happen. With Dell's announcement last week that their sales have dropped over 16% in the past year and they will be cutting down on costs, jumping into a new already crowded market doesn't seem like the best way to recoup their lost sales.