Around the Globe

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.

Those of you who read Direct2Dell pretty regularly know that I love to use PCs for their multimedia capabilities. Advancements in hardware performance and on the OS side have made it possible to enjoy HD-quality stuff throughout the house. Now, we're bringing that capability to customers worldwide into a small form factor with the Inspiron Zino HD. Next to the Studio Hybrid, it's the smallest PC form factor we've introduced in our history. It also brings a lot of the power efficiency of the Studio Hybrid and offers better performance.

Small form factors themselves are nothing new. But  with the Inspiron Zino HD, we've worked to make a desktop that balances performance, size and price. In my view, this is the closest we've come to balancing all three in my 15 years here at Dell.

Update: I saw folks like Crave's Rich Brown were curious about performance Blu-ray performance. I'll work to pull together some details about CPU/ GPU performance on this little thing early next week. In the meantime, Jay Taylor has a pretty thorough review over at the AMD at Home Blog.

We offer a slew of color and design options: Flamingo Pink, Formula Red, Tangerine Orange, Plum Purple, True Blue, and Spring Green and Piano Black. Beyond that, we'll also offer Dell Design Studio-inspired designs as well. Take a look at this set on Dell's Flickr page if you want to see more.

The Inspiron Zino HD kicks things into high gear by adding more powerful processor (see image below) and graphic card options. It comes standard with an integrated version of AMD's Radeon HD 3200 solution, but customers who want the best HD experience should opt for upgrading to the discrete version of the ATI Mobility Radeon 4330.

The Zino HD also offers more expandability options--including DDR3 800MHz DDR2 RAM up to 8GB, an internal hard drive options up to 1TB. It also adds more external expandability through two E-SATA ports. Inspiron Zino HD customers can opt for an internal Blu-ray drive and can output it directly to an HDTV in the living room or elsewhere through HDMI. The Zinio HD can be ordered with two internal Wi-Fi network card options: the Dell 1397 card for 802.11b/g or the Dell 1520 card for 802.11b/g, and dual-band 802.11n. A 4-in-1 media card reader and integrated Gigabit Ethernet are both standard. Click on the image below to see a better view on the ports on the Inspiron Zino HD.

When outfitted with an upgraded processor the discrete graphics card option. the Zino HD is built for HD streaming. Streaming Netflix? Check. Watching Blu-ray movies in 1080p? Check. Besides that, this little box makes an awesome Windows 7 Media Center hub. We offer the Inspiron Zino HD with Vista Home Basic as the base operating system. But for anyone looking to use it as a Media Center Hub, I highly recommend upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate. If you watched video of Microsoft's Windows 7 launch event in New York might have caught the demo. Windows 7 is a media streaming beast.

Bottom line, if you're needing a small PC that can handle everything from the basics up through some pretty sophisticated HTPC kind of stuff, the I think the Inspiron Zino and the Zino HD are definitely worth a look.

From the FCC to you, today, we introduced another product in our rugged line-up.

The Latitude XT2 XFR is the industry's smallest 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC and is the first with a multi-touch display. It's designed for demanding environments and meets the needs of our customers in the military, police, border patrol, field service organizations, first responders and government field case workers.

How do we know it meets their needs? Earlier this year we made it a priority to work with customers across each vertical segment in our Global Public business to create purpose-built technology solutions. The XT2 XFR continues this commitment and is another example of an industry-first product that was developed based on customer feedback. It can be mounted into first-responder vehicles or easily carried by field-service and industrial-manufacturing workforces to perform in tough environments.

The Latitude XT2 XFR adds to Dell's Rugged Mobility Solution offering that includes the fully rugged Latitude E6400 XFR that Patrick blogged about earlier this year and the semi-rugged Latitude E6400 ATG laptops we brought to market in 2007. It is available with a range of accessories and services that include mobile rugged docking and mounting solutions with mobile broadband pass-through, as well as end-to-end services.

We understand that reducing total cost of ownership is a priority for larger organizations, that's why we are committed to providing our customers with long lifecycles, stable image, tools and service offerings to simplify IT management, so they can focus on their mission. The XT2 XFR continues this tradition.

To see more Latitude XT2 XFR images, click on this Flickr set. See below for an overview video and a short video that shows the kinds of tests we do on the Latitude XT2 XFR and all of our ruggedized products.

As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Reminders of this important cause are showing up in a variety of venues, ranging from pink-ribbon wrapped airliners to pink cleats decorating the feet of one of the NFL's most prolific quarterbacks (whose wife is a breast cancer survivor). For many of us, the reminders are closer to home - like being recruited to participate in the local Race for the Cure, or, the closest of all, hearing that someone you know has been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

The facts are both scary and positive. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women ages 45 to 55, however with advancements in screenings, diagnosis and treatment, the death rate has declined 20 percent over the last 10 years. These advancements have been accelerated with the support of organizations like the Susan G Komen for the Cure, and Dell is proud to be a part of this effort.

Earlier this year, Dell teamed with Susan G. Komen for the Cure in the fight against breast cancer, pledging a $5.00 donation with the purchase of any "Promise Pink" PC or Inspiron Mini, and a minimum donation of $250,000 for 2009. Pairing one of our most popular colors with a cause that people are passionate about has paid off. I am delighted to share that in eight months we have not only achieved our minimum donation goal, but have actually doubled it, generating more than $600,000.

Since our initial announcement in February, we have expanded the number of choices a customer can choose from - we now offer Promise Pink on 10 PCs including, the Inspiron Mini 10 and Mini 10v, Inspiron 11z, 14, 15 and 17 laptops, Studio 15 and 17 laptops, the Inspiron 537s and 546 desktops.Take a look at www.dell.com/pink to see all of them.

What's really inspiring is that this program resonates not only with Dell customers, but with Dell employees, like April Steinmetz based in Round Rock, Texas, who recently shared the following:

"Not only is this particular charity a huge hit for most companies and events to sponsor, but it also means a lot to me. Sadly, one of my family members has been affected by this disease and if I am not careful I could be too. Knowledge is power, and our company has the power to give to the cause and advertise its purpose while providing great products to customers."

And Sarah Childree, a sales consultant based in Nashville:

"Dell's partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation is something I feel very passionate about. Dell donates $5 dollars to this foundation to fund continuing research for breast cancer every time someone buys the "Promise Pink" color on a system. I really enjoy helping others in general, and by selling the color "Promise Pink" we can do just that and maintain our impact on the fight against breast cancer."

Finally, I'd like take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of other Dell employees and to everyone outside the company for making a difference by giving their time, energy and donations to the upcoming Komen Austin Race for the Cure.

Remember, one person can make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. Susan G. Komen for the Cure was founded by one sister making a promise to another sister. Dell is proud to be a part of this worthwhile effort! Our promise of a world without breast cancer does not just rest in the hands of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  It is up to all of us, employees, customers, and the community of survivors and co-survivors, to stand united until the promise is fulfilled and the cures are found.

Today, we’re kicking off a children’s photography competition, called “Where Do You Like to Learn”, that celebrates the digitally connected world we live in. Not only will the winning student’s school receive a Dell tablet PC and projector for the classroom, the child will receive a Latitude 2100 notebook.

Entering is as easy as 1-2-3

• Visit this blog post on Edu4U for the full contest rules and email your photograph(s) to edu4u@dell.com. You may enter up to four photos in the contest.
• You can follow progress of the contest online at;

-- Direc2Dell’s Education page;

-- Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/delleducation; and

-- Twitter at www.twitter.com/edu4u.

• On November 20, check back at Edu4U to see the top 10 finalists and vote! And every member of the Edu4U community can have one vote and be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win a Dell Latitude 2100 netbook. Winners will be announced on December 5.

Please pass this on to your local school or any students who you feel would be interested in this contest. We want you to show us where you like to learn!