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Rumors of Google and Dell iPhone Rival
An anonymous reader writes "Speculation is mounting that Google is plotting the launch of a mobile phone in partnership with computer giant Dell.
Senior industry sources claim the two companies will reveal their plans at next month's 3GSM telecoms conference in Barcelona, although Google insiders deny an announcement is due in the near future."
I don't see this happening honestly. Google tends to buy out a company instead of partnership with it. especially after the wi-max fiasco I would see them perhaps buying a smaller smartphone vendor(openmoko comes to mind) and using that.
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
Competition is Good. We're just at the beginning. (And just catching up to the Japanese!)
Get real. Whatever this thing turns out to be, you can bet your monkey it won't be as pretty as the iPhone. As easy to use, maybe. But it sounds like it's aimed at a different market - a market that won't blindly pay out the ass for the kind of experience Apple offers. Which means it's not an iPhone competitor. Much the same way anything-that-plays-music is not an iPod competitor, though pundits continue to insist that IT IS OMG!!! to drive up their page views. :P
Finally. Now everyone who has a Dell iPod player can get a matching Dell iPhone! It'll be just like the "other iPhone" but with all the benefits of being a Dell product!
Where do I buy Google and Dell stock? I'm gonna be RICH!
Despite this most likely happening right after duke nukem forever comes out, if it does happen, it'll be a great thing to have. Right now Apple needs a rival. If they sit at the top alone with the iPhone, it won't have any incentive to get better. Google is just the company to give them this competition, and Dell's equally enormous resources will surely fuel the hardware side of the development.
Remember the Dell DJ?
Dell is good at selling commodity products to businesses and value consumers. When they try and move up the food chain, they don't do so well, the Alienware acquisition notwithstanding.
...and the Axim is the top currently selling pda from Dell.
Half baked and abandoned hardware - yeah, that's what I really want in a device.
Sorry, but there has got to be a better hardware vendor to choose than Dell for such a venture. Dell consumer is about high turnover and commodity parts that can be changed with the wind when prices fluctuate - not what I want in a phone builder. Doesn't Nokia or Moto want a piece of this kind of action?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The Googell
The obvious choice would be gPhone or maybe even dPhone, but I have an even better suggestion ...
....
the GD-ItPhone, which might be the expletive used by the early buyers
On a more serious note, they'd better out do iPhone 2.0 and come in under the current iPhone pricing.
Just my 2 copper coins of the realm.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
And uses the open standard that google's been pushing. Ideally, it'd be capable of swapping between relatively inexpensive cellular (maybe in that 900mhz range?) and wifi.
While I'm dreaming, I'd like it to support email and web, and include Eclipse or some other similar IDE, movies, music, and the ability to act as a guitar tuner.
And a camera, a radio, a GPS, an emergency aircraft beacon, an accellerometer in three dimensions for Wiimote emulation, and I'd like it to fit in the palm of my hand and hook to a glasses mounted display.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Anyone with taste? Having said that, I have a HTC WM6 smartphone and it works pretty well because it can connect directly to our exchange server, and has a great slideout keyboard - much more useful than the touchscreen only iPhone (though my HTC device has a touchscreen too of course, makes navigating menus and such far quicker, and should I ever need Remote Desktop on the go then the option is there)
which is totally what she said
Ain't necessarily so.
Specifically, Google has put a lot of weight behind Android. If Google sells an 'own brand' phone - even if it's a Google/Dell own brand phone - then that kills all other Android phones stone dead, because none of the other serious mobile phone vendors will want to be using a competitor's OS. So Google, who aren't stupid, are not going to do this.
This rumour is one of two things:
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
Maybe in a couple years I can choose from several great phones, that aren't limited by the carriers, that I can use any way I wish, with any applications, with great voice quality and great bandwidth, for only $15 per month...Is that even possible? I hope so. Probably just wishful thinking.
Anyone with taste will tell you that experience shows that being tasteful is almost detrimental to the success of anything...
I think Google should partner with a technology company to provide the hardware instead of Dell. Dell has no R&D to speak of. They take off-the-shelf parts, brand them and sell a warranty. This partnership is on a fast train to also-ran city.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
{sarcasm}
But Apple only makes niche market products! The real threat is clearly Windows Mobile...
{/sarcasm}
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
I think most of us would have. Linux has always been gaining ground and improving. While Mac has made a massive comeback by making some real solid tech. MS on the other hand has just sat around making lock out tech and trying to convince everyone that anything MS did not start is a dangerous piece of hippy technology. Saying someone else sucks only works for so long before people start asking questions.
Have you heard of these iPod thingies? You know, the ones that cost more than equivalently specced devices, but just look a bit nicer? The ones that millions of people seem to think are worth it? I certainly don't think they're worth the money, but a lot of people do. Same goes for nice looking cars, etc.
which is totally what she said
Dell is about commodity hardware.
Google wants to commodotize phone hardware. Let's face it, phone companies suck at software.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Seriously people, this tag is getting massively overused. Dell making a cell phone is not the same thing as, say, implanting neural tissue from a pig into paralyzed children or building robots with machine guns. The worst thing that could go wrong here is that Dell might make a shitty phone and lose money. BFD.
Anyone else who's sick of whatcouldpossiblygowrong abuse, please go ahead and put in a !whatcouldpossiblygowrong into the tags box.
Causation can cause correlation
Google's Android is a great framework, but it has yet to gain substance by being embedded in real hardware. If Google and Dell put their heads together, we might have a complete product. It will probably never outgrow the iPhone in popularity, but I think it will become a success.
Also, because Android is an open framework, we should expect a great number of third-party applications, something that the iPhone currently lacks.
Kind of OT, but could we please stop tagging articles with "whatcouldpossiblygowrong"? Aside from the fact that is stopped being funny after the 2nd or 3rd time, it kind of negates the purpose of having a tag if every single article gets the same tag.
In other news Google becomes the first company to outsource "evil", a commodity assumed only available in the US and parts of China.
My boys will give you the best kind of start, 1400 megatons worth, and you sure as hell won't stop them now.
Does that mean we will stop seeing those annoying Mac commercials soon?
"Google tends to buy out a company instead of partnership with it. especially after the wi-max fiasco"
Do you have any sources for how many companies Google bought out as compared to those they signed a partnership agreement? What WiMax fiasco are you refering to?
davecb5620@gmail.com
adding a projector into the phone...
as described by Microvision's statement that they are in talks with a major company. Could you imagine a phone with a projector? I sure could... and I want one.
From the grandparent comment: It's not a Mac vs Linux thing -- as the poster above states, there are very successful Windows Mobile phones that are doing a much better job at business applications than iPhone. Blackberry and Palm are sort of run-of-the-mill these days and don't offer much more than a normal Internet-ready phone. Exchange integration is the big thing -- everyone wants their calendar anywhere, even if they don't have Internet access.
One thing I'd really like on the iPhone is a grdesktop client and ssh client. Exchange integration will make the iPhone widely accepted by businesses running Exchange, but IT guys need their tools too.
I think the iPod's success is more to do with the user interface than the form factor.
It doesn't look that different to other mp3 players, but the incredibly simple and intuitive interface made it accessible to millions of folk who would not have put up with the UIs of other portable media devices.
"there has got to be a better hardware vendor to choose than Dell .. - not what I want in a phone builder"
.. :)
Does Dell get its chips and hardware assembled in different Chinese factories than Nokia or Moto, if not then your whole point is void. A big plus for such a deal would be Dells consumer and distribution channels
davecb5620@gmail.com
"Marketing Week" decides to drive more people to it's site by including the word "iPhone" in an article title. However, they're still so far off their tits to bother to use a spellchecker, so "al-though" makes it into the published copy. Cmdrtaco hasn't woken up properly yet, so it gets copied to Slashdot too...
Seriously, "Senior industry sources" could mean anything. It probably means "some people we went down the pub with that actually work for a from a company that you've heard of".
(and no, in case you're wondering, I never get invited to 3GSM)
We've seen Google getting all sorts of cell-phone related patents recently, and their extreme interest in the airwave auctions as well.
"Teach a man to build a fire, and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life."
If I search the contact-list, I might get 100,000 matches.
Their going to call it the "PocketFire"
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Google already has enough of my information, and they are dutifully adding it all to their NSA database.
So why oh why would I let Google have the rest of my information? Think about it: with a Google Phone, they will know where you are, where you've been, who you talk to, who you visit, where you shop, how long you stay there, where you work, where you live (which they probably already know), etc. There is now a feature in GoogleMaps which uses cell towers to find your location- you think they created that for no reason?
Yeah... the Googletards can chant the mantra of "don't be evil" all they want. That's not going to make me trust them, especially in light of how fast and loose they play with people's privacy.
Nope, Apples selling point is that they make better tech and that is what the commercials say in their own little arrogant way. My guess is with Linux gaining ground they might have to add in PC's brother Linux PC. So you can expect new quips about there being to many Linux distros and parallels being a better option then dual booting or using Wine
I don't know if it will be PC's brother, but I know what he'll look like. You can, too.
Go find a mirror.
The opposite of progress is congress
I doubt it.
The iPod was the very first portable music device they ever bought.
They never even looked at or considered any other model and probably can not even name another model (except maybe the Zune but they still never looked at it).
They probably never even used or tested an iPod before buying one or maybe just looked at a friends for a few minutes.
Basically, most people have nothing to compare it too and never had any intentions of comparing the iPod to something else so the user interface was not the deciding factor.
I know, you and some others will go to extremes in a reply how you checked multiple players before deciding on an iPod but for everyone like you, they are 100 others that did not do that.
That does not mean that the interface is not well liked but that was not the reason they bought it.
My family has three Sansa devices and we have no problems at all with the interface. I have no problem with the iPod interface either.
Most of the Windows phones look so similar that they are primarily Windows phones with MS-brand images being larger than the manufacturers logos etc(Ooh look! A Windows phone, I wonder who makes it). The MS/Windows brand is the strongest brand on these devices.
The first one or two Android phones will get a lot of reflected Googleshine, just like the launch of the first few MS phones.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
When I look around on the market, there simply aren't many companies that could rival Apple when it comes to designing with the user in mind, i.e. useful, easy to use, sleak and nice, with just about the right feature set (80%, you never please everyone entirely).
:-) )
Nokia, Siemens, Motorolla - they all suck in the useability department. Most of them suck hard and long.
Dell, HP, Palm - useability ok, but the feature set is never quite right
Google - interface ok, useaful, but thrives too much on hiding things (how many of your non-geek friends now even a fraction of the cool things you can do in the Google search input field?)
The only company that comes to mind as comparing to Apple in the design department is Nintendo - and I'd be more than surprised if they came out with a mobile phone ("DS+Talk" ?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I won't say "dying breed" because there will always be people inclined to take function over fashion, but anyone in marketing will tell you that style, more than function, brings in the green. Function appeals to a niche market.
Incidentally, I purchased a Zune last month. Still a little sore over Apple's treatment of third party developers re: iPhone... (which is an even rarer take than function > style)
Charisma is the measure of someone's ability to lie with a straight face.
>> please go ahead and put in a !whatcouldpossiblygowrong into the tags box
I'm just thinking whatcouldpossiblygowrong if we put the tag !whatcouldpossiblygowrong
Dell has show efforts to be more and more open with their systems (Bundling Ubuntu), and though the cost is nearly the same, there's a good chance of the Windows tax being dropped/mitigated in Europe. Their prices have always been very reasonable, and their ability to custom build the box online is legendary, not to mention rebust build quality. While many people don't like them as much as myself, I don't think they could be considered even remotely evil.
;)
Despite Google's obvious affection for your personal data, who can deny that they provide innovative, open services. The Android SDK is a great looking bit of kit, which shows a lot of promise, and of course gives developers the power they want on a device.
And then we have the Steve Jobbs, a man who hates his customers, who deliberately shafted early adopters by almost cutting the iPhone price in half two months after the release. The iPhone is STILL a mindblowingly expensive device, and doesn't even support 3G, locked to the most anti-competitive and greedy network there is, it's been carried by hype advertising from day one. From a development point of view its locked down tighter than Sing Sing, and I've not doubt the SDK will be a gimmick with little power given to developers. It's a mystery to me why people bother spending time and energy to jailbreak the device when Apple are constantly releasing new firmware to turn them into expensive doorstops.
Google, Dell, your timing is right, make its pretty, functional, affordable and most of all open and we shall flock to buy them.
Get it done fast though, Nokia have got some seriously cool new gear in the pipeline
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
Nope, doesn't sound right. Google is not coming out with a gPhone jointly developed with Dell. Otherwise, they'd be competing against their own customers.
What might be happening is that Dell is designing a phone based upon Android (like many other hardware vendors will be doing). Google may be giving them some technical assistance since --if the reports are true-- Dell would be one of the first vendors actually building a phone based upon Android.
It's like saying my company and Microsoft are jointly developing a new project because I'm using VisualStudio, and I have a support contract with Microsoft.
Now, whether the new Dell phone will fly is another question since all hardware manufacturers still need to have tie-ins with some cellphone service provider. If Dell is creating such a phone, we can count Verizon out as a possible cellphone service provider since they refuse to have anything to do with Android.
Wonder how the 700Mhz auctions are going...
I agree w/ above. Google bringing out a Goo-phone wouldn't make any sense, business-wise. Creating one would directly conflict with the goals of it's Android platform. Google stands to gain much more by staying on their hardware-independent path and profiting from the software.
Come to think of it, Dell manufacturing/re-branding a low-end smartphone would seem to fit with their existing strategy. Much like their PC segment, they could sell the device cheaply and make money selling high margin accessories.
Correction -- I meant "just" in the sense of only. As in we're still only catching up to the Japanese. And the Europeans. Not in the sense of "just" as in we are catching up just now. We're WAY behind!
iPod : MP3 Player :: Kleenex : Tissue :: Band-Aid: Bandage :: Coke : Soda
Point is, the brand is now synonymous with the product now for most Luddites. There are a lot more of them than there are you and I...
Agreed. I had been putting off getting an MP3 player for myself for the longest time, because really I couldn't justify spending the money on one. However, that didn't keep me from wandering into Best Buy or wherever and just looking at what was available. All sorts of MP3 players were on display and I would play with them and check out the interface. None of them were intuitive in the least, and the menus just didn't seem to do what I expected them to.
Fast forward to my last birthday where some relatives all went in together and got me a 3g iPod Nano. Prior to this, I had never used an iPod, even in passing. When I tried using it, I "just got it". The UI is so incredibly easy and intuitive, I really couldn't believe it. I could care less about the aesthetic design of the iPod, but the UI is what makes it for me.
~jaraxle
Or, just entirely ignore the complete failure that was tags in the hopes that they might go away. Tags as used on slashdot are invariably the same as either the editors/submitter's categories, or the comments. Except that, unlike comments, there's no space to elaborate on your conclusion and by being posted directly on the front page they attract wankers. I no longer look at them and I hope that we can get rid of them sooner rather than later.
Look out!
I have an HTC Mogul (I believe a 6800 model) through Sprint. In my experience, the hardware is OK, but WM6 is a piece of sh*t.
Even with a full-hardware-reset (restores factory ROM), over two weeks of average phone, data, and standard applications usage, it becomes slow and bloaty--the only fix for which is a full-reboot.
Add to this a completely uninspired interface (does EVERYTHING need to use a stylus?) and I'm hard pressed to say that this phone lacks the design innovation of something like the iPhone.
I won't even go into the nightmare of ActiveSync not working ("corrupted notes", reinstall ActiveSync, which contact has gone "bad", etc.) which took me, an experienced IT professional of 13 years, a week to resolve.
We most certainly need competition in this space.
I wonder if the battery will explode while I have it against my ear?
brian botkiller "Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance" - Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
oh we're getting off-topic here.
the ipod got popular because of product placement and because it was white at a time when most mp3-players were black or silver.
I am still waiting to find out if Android will support/have built in/employee a SIP stack. Mixing Jabba, SIP and 3G into one "iPhone" like device no 2 year contract is going to be huge. Can Dell pull it off? Is Google open to SIP? I know someone will create this kind of device and it when they do they will become the de-facto communication device for those in the know!
A Mac vs. Linux ad seems fairly unlikely. As far as I can tell, Apple don't often acknowledge the existence of Linux at all if they can help it.
Google as had some real nice interface features (some of mgail, the drag-your-route in gMaps). Now pair that with the manic geek-energy that HTC seems to have for producing PDA phones, and I'm ready to line up with my $600. I've got an HTC Hermes, and while it's got it's issues, it's a damned good PDA phone (I happen to like a keyboard, thankyouverymuch). Decouple HTC from Microsoft and the stylus-driven interface and you're heading towards a great product for those of us who just want to get work done.
HTC is the partner that I'd like to see.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
That and it's shiny and well built...and stylish and they all look the same. I wouldn't say the ipod interface is all that great, but at least its consistent and somewhat obvious.
I don't know, when something is tagged badarticle it usually is; in the past I would have to wade through a few comments to find that out or click and give the bad-article writers money, along with wasting my time.
--
WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
I'm usually much more keen on reading text on the screen than watching videos, but in this case you really have to see the fake iPhone demo to get an idea for the sheer awfulness of the thing.
Apple took two and a half years, 200 engineers and many millions of dollars to build iPhone. You really can't expect that to be replicated quickly. Ironically enough, I believe the fake iPhone was on the street before the real thing! It's most likely a cosmetic variation on an already existing phone, although I was unable to identify the software's origin. (Perhaps someone can clue me in - it seemed like it was probably Chinese designed.)
You are correct, however, that the Chinese did listen to some of the complaints. The fake iPhone has a removable battery and will work on any network. After seeing that video, however, I think you'll agree that is pretty thin gruel compared to the enormous advantages the real thing has in other areas.
D
Disclaimer: The author loves his iPhone. Best thing since sliced bread, etc.
my first mp3 player was a Creative Nomad 30GB, its battery lasted longer than an IPod, it came with a case and charger built in to the cost, and was cheaper than the equivalent IPod by a fair margin.
But I filled it up, and with plenty more to come in the coming years, I wanted the biggest MP3 player I could find. Apple announced the 160GB Ipod, and although I waited for a similar announcement from ANYONE, nothing was forthcoming. Nothing comes even close.
Thats why I bought an IPod, it had nothing to do with the look, or anything else other than it was the biggest one available
I usually get by with using my fingertips/nails (and no I don't have small hands, though I guess I have fairly rounded fingertips :P ). Some comptetition would be nice, but considering it is a Microsoft product, it does work fairly well for me (but I mostly use it as a phone and for the calendar rather than doing a lot of activesyncing - if I do need to sync my email I just do it directly with the Exchange server over the GPRS connection)
which is totally what she said
You don't need to own stock to sell it...
Going to Europe, buying a prepaid SIM card there to get a local number requires an unlock of the phone first.
So there are restrictions, somehow, and as another reply pointed out, not all carriers do that.
That's one use --- a better solution to the same problem would be the long-standing that users should be able to moderate articles. Bad articles would be relegated to 0 or -1 troll quickly enough and all would be well.
Look out!