Direct2Dell

Today, I get to put the all the rumors to rest—Dell confirmed that we’re entering the smartphone business. These initial Mini 3 smartphones will roll out first in China and Brazil through partnerships with two of the world’s largest mobile operators: China Mobile and Claro. 

So, why are we starting in China and Brazil? Besides size (China Mobile has over 500 million subscribers, and Claro serves more than 42 million), we have existing telecom partnerships with them. Back in April, we were the first to embed China Mobile’s technology into our Mini 10 netbook. And if you’ve been watching, you know Dell has agreements with lots of other providers like Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. We’ve partnered with AT&T and Verizon in the United States to offer mobile broadband on different products, and we have agreements with other carriers in Asia.

Here's a picture of Michael Dell and João Cox, President of Claro, showing off the Mini 3 smartphone:

Our entry into the smartphone market is a way to extend the power of the Internet beyond netbooks, laptops and desktops into smaller products. Lots of options there.

The other thing  can confirm is that the Mini 3 smartphones run Google’s Android platform. I’m pumped like a lot of others out there about where Android is heading. With Android, we’re designing these initial Mini 3 phones to provide power, flexibility and customization to both our customers and to carriers around the world.

I’ll let others blog about the details of the upcoming Mini 3 smartphones and Dell’s broader mobile strategy here on Direct2Dell soon. To see the first official pictures, take a look at the Mini 3 set on our Flickr page.