Dell and PDAs

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=48372">http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=48372</a><br /><br />I've been wondering when Dell would enter the PDA market, and it looks like it's further away than I thought.<br /><br />"It's a simple business plan that has made Dell Computer Corp. a force to be reckoned with in the enterprise PC market — enter a large and profitable market that has a clear set of standards and beat the competition with rock bottom prices. However, those market conditions have yet to be met in the PDA space, which is why Dell is steering clear. <br /><br />"If it happens in six months, we'll be in the market in six months. But if it's six years, we'll be in the market in six years," said Michael Dell during an interview with Computing Canada. "The product development is not the hard part here. The hard part is getting a large market that is profitable (and) that has clear standards. "If you look at the size of the (PDA) market for example, there are about two million Pocket PCs sold per year, versus about 130 million PCs. It's not a very large market. Third, industry standards. . ..You've got . . lots of different characters out there, so there's no clear standard yet." <br /><br />This comment made me scratch my head though:<br /><br />"According to Daoust, the Pocket PC failed, when upon its initial release, it was believed to be a purely enterprise-oriented product. But it gained a whole new group of users when, 18 months ago, Hewlett-Packard decided to target the unit to the consumer market." Source: Rob Borek

[Foo Fighter]

"But it gained a whole new group of users when, 18 months ago, Hewlett-Packard decided to target the unit to the consumer market." Source: Rob Borek


Huh? When did HP begin targeting consumers? Am I missing something?

[mja8105]

only thing i can think of would be the 520-series...

[JonnoB]

The product development is not the hard part here.


Since when did Dell actually develop anything? Don't they just OEM components from others? Maybe they are just waiting for some builder to make a better/more modular PocketPC.

[pt]

wow, i can't wait till Steve the DELL DUDE starts saying. "DUDE, YOU'RE GETTIN A POCKET PC". he's dreamy.

cheers,
pt

[Aceze]

PocketPCs are too cheap - therefore, Dell reps do not get enough corporate kickbacks to warrant selling them. Thus, Dell wont get into the market.

Pah, Dell workstations suck. Having outfitted more than one lab full of them, and having to deal with their BS and crappy "service", I know how they make their money - sucker large corporations into long term contracts, and then underdeliver on their skyhigh promises with subpar parts and ****ty service.

Gee, do I sound bitter enough?? :twisted:
Aceze

[Aceze]

wow, i can't wait till Steve the DELL DUDE starts saying. "DUDE, YOU'RE GETTIN A POCKET PC". he's dreamy.

cheers,
pt


Dont you know, Steve's gonna be in the next Hollywood blockbuster:
"Dude, Where's My Dell?"

Sweet! Dude! Sweet! Dude!
Aceze

ps. Can you believe that a sequel to "Dude, where's my Car?" is in the works? I aint kiddin' you - it's going to be called: "Seriously Dude, Where's My Car?"

[Timothy Rapson]

The product development is not the hard part here.


Since when did Dell actually develop anything? Don't they just OEM components from others? Maybe they are just waiting for some builder to make a better/more modular PocketPC.


Here's news. HP and Compaq don't develop PPCs or even their own laptops. They are designed packaged and shipped from Taiwan. My estimate is that Compaq pays HTC (the company that actually designed the Ipaq) about $250-350 for each of them. Compaq puts their logo on the boxes and distributes and handles warranty stuff. Compaq and HP don't have a single engineer on their own payroll working on making PPCs.

Not that it matters to the final product, except that Dell is probably a better marketer than either Compaq or HP. I don't know why Dell would not get into this profitable market. Toshiba appears to actually be moving the market into the mainstream with their new models.

I would buy a handheld from Dell. In fact, I just bought my Sony NR70V from them today. They must have very low overhead and profit expectations. Their prices on all PDAs is right near the lowest on the Net, if you wait for their sale days.

If they were selling the Toshiba E310 today for example it would be $400 (or less; they list the HP Jornado 567 which has a list price of $599....or would have if it were a 568 which is the same hardware but with a consumer package) minus 10% = $360, minus the $50 off anything over $400 coupon code that is available all over the Net = $310. That is a bargain!

[AhuhX]

The product development is not the hard part here.


Since when did Dell actually develop anything? Don't they just OEM components from others? Maybe they are just waiting for some builder to make a better/more modular PocketPC.


Here's news. HP and Compaq don't develop PPCs or even their own laptops. They are designed packaged and shipped from Taiwan.

Well wrong. The iPaq was designed in the US. Try look back through some old Thoughts articles and there was a story on the US design team's methodology for the iPaq. It's just built by HTC.

I *think* the HP was designed by HP Singapore though? Someone will correct me no doubt if I'm wrong...

[JonnoB]

Here's news. HP and Compaq don't develop PPCs or even their own laptops. They are designed packaged and shipped from Taiwan.


I believe HTC was contracted to help with some of the design, but Compaq had oversight and did much of the engineering/concepts first. Dell typically specs out OEM equipment and does little in the area of detailed design work from what I can tell.

[Take1]

I think the guys at Dell are neophytes to the whole PDA 'thingy'. What I think they mean is that the iPAQ was originally designed for the corporate market but became a hit among the tech-oriented consumers. The HP 54x line was targeted at the professional/corporate market intially, and the 52x was targeted at the buget student/retail channel 6- 8 months later. Casio was the first to bring out the EM500 wich was designed for the consumer 'youth' market -- proclaiming it's multimedia focus (which sucked next to the performance of the 206 MHz iPAQ).

Their comments about PPC's initial 'failure' is rather vapid -- considering the splash that the iPAQ made (couldn't make them fast enough!).