Dell in a statement confirmed that it had backed out of smartphones in the US. At least at present, the Android-running Venue and Windows Phone-based Venue Pro had "run their course," PCWorld paraphrased a Dell representative as saying. There would be mobile devices later into 2012, but Dell was unclear if there would be more than tablets at the time.
Dell's Venue Android smartphone has followed in the footsteps of the discontinued Streak 5 tablet from the company in earning US government approval for use by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). It has thus become the first Android phone to get the honor following RIM's BlackBerry devices, as revealed by a DISA document. Department of Defense employees will get limited access to the device's features however, with no access to the Android Market and web browsing done only through a DoD proxy server.
Dell on Monday confirmed that it had stopped selling the Streak 7. The tablet is no longer available online and is withdrawing just months after Dell axed the Streak 5. In a statement, it said it would still be involved in the mobile space but conspicuously referred to the Streak 7 in the past tense, suggesting it was being phased out.
Dell is whittling back one of its staple practices at CES in a sign of a reduced focus on the home for 2012. New leaks Wednesday hinted to AllThingsD that the company would drop its near-traditional occupation of a whole floor at The Palms off of the Las Vegas strip in favor of the hotel suite invites and meeting rooms common to companies that don't have major products to unveil at the show. If would instead attach itself to a keynote from one of its partners, implying Intel or Microsoft.
Dell's founder Michael Dell used his own Dell World conference as an unusual platform for talking down Android while putting faith in Windows 8. While he pledged loyalty to Microsoft and said the company was "very aligned" with it, he said Google's OS had "not developed to the expectations" Dell had. Steve Felice, president of the consumer division, tried to minimize the company's lack of success, claiming that the Streak tablets, Aero, and Venue phones were shipped in small numbers to "see customer reaction and behavior."
Dell may be backing out of its plans for Windows Phone if not all of mobile for the near future. Claims passed on by a "higher up" alleged to WPCentral that a sequel to the Venue Pro, the Wrigley, has been cancelled along with any plans for Windows Phone 7 hardware in 2012. The smartphone might not have even gone beyond planning.
An industry rumor on Monday claimed that Apple was developing mobile devices with curved glass. The company has supposedly given part suppliers help by buying glass polishing hardware, Digitimes said. Three companies have been identified supplying cover glass, with Fuji Crystal and Lens Technology focusing on iPhones and G-Tech handling iPads.
Apple may borrow a cue from earlier iPod nanos and even Dell for the display of the next iPhone, insiders claimed Monday. Component suppliers have heard Apple would implement a curved glass cover and had been pushing to overcome the cost barriers to the technology by buying the glass cutter machinery itself. The company had reportedly left the machines in storage and would bring them out once economies of scale worked out, Digitimes said.
Dell today brought the Venue to the US for the first time as an unlocked device. The all-touch Android 2.2 phone is reaching the US in versions with 3G both for AT&T's network as well as for T-Mobile. Both run Dell's custom, multi-screen Stage UI also found in larger form on the Streak 7.
The expected Dell Streak 7 tablet has been officially revealed by Dell on Thursday. Nearly at the same time as the Dell Streak 7 was confirmed by T-Mobile, Dell held its own off-site press conference in Las Vegas at CES. It will be the first 4G tablet in the US, the company announced.
