Dell to Sell Smartphones in China

The second largest computer maker in the world, Dell, is expected to come to the market with a series of smartphones during the ongoing year, which have been previously reported as “not too appealing” to wireless carriers in the US. According to the latest news on the Web, the giant manufacturer intends to intro the devices on the Chinese market, and it is in talks with the country's operator China Mobile for the move.

It seems that at the moment the company is waiting for one or two of its handsets to be chosen for release in China, and that the deal with the carrier is expected to close sometime in August. Zhang Jun, an analyst at research firm Wedge MKI, stated recently that the deal was possible, and that a Dell smartphone could hit the Chinese market by the end of the year.

The handsets that the computer maker will release in the country will have to support the TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) network standard available in the area, and it seems that they could also run under the China Mobile operating system, known as Open Mobile System (OMS), which is based on the Google Android platform, in which the operator has included its own instant messaging application.

According to Zhang, other mobile phone makers are also working on the development of handsets that run under the OMS platform, including High Tech Computer (HTC), which developed the first Android handset, as well as the Chinese telecommunication equipment providers Huawei and ZTE. Lenovo Mobile is another company that has released an OMS phone this spring, a touchscreen device called Ophone. At the same time, Dell also intends to come to the Chinese market with TD-SCDMA netbooks, the launch of the Inspiron Mini 10 in China this Thursday being the first step in this regard.

It seems that China Mobile hopes that adding some Dell smartphones to its offering will help its 3G standard see more traction from users, says Zhang. No one from the wireless carrier was available to comment on the news story. At the same time, a Dell representative in Beijing also refused to make a statement, reports NetworkWorld.