by Patrick Altoft on April 17, 2007
According to industry sources Quanta Computer is developing a PDA smartphone for Dell, although Quanta will not comment on the rumours it is believed that the handset will launch during Q4 2007.
The project, codenamed “Fly”, will run on Windows Mobile 6 and offer high end features such as HSDPA and a QWERTY keyboard.
Quanta, which is the biggest notebook supplier for Dell, is actively developing products for the PDA handset and 3G phone market, and it currently supplies handsets for Hewlett Packard (HP) and O2. Although the size of Quanta’s handset business is smaller than High Tech Computer (HTC), its position as an ODM without its own-brand business or collaboration with telecom carriers has allowed it to win the Dell PDA handset project, the sources commented.
Via Digi Times
by Patrick Altoft on April 14, 2007
File this in the “rumours” section for now but according to some reports Dell might be about to buy Palm to kickstart a move into the smartphone market.
Dell is stopping selling its Axim range of PDA’s and analysts are convinced that the PDA is dead and that the smartphone is taking its place.
The decision by Dell to discontinue the Axim line is a good example of the demise of the personal digital assistant, or PDA, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, Jack Gold, said.
“The PDA is dead. Long live the smart phone,” he said.
The Axim decision has been predicted for some time, Gold said, and Dell was likely to introduce a smart phone later this year. It might also purchase Palm to make it happen.
Palm itself sold PDAs, but they were a minority of Palm’s sales, Gold said.
HP’s iPaq PDA has become a smart phone as well, he noted.
“Dell has the money to buy Palm, and it’s clear now that Motorola is not buying Palm,” Gold said.
Dell could build a smart phone or buy an established player. Palm already has a line of four smart phones that are built on both the Windows Mobile and Palm operating systems.
