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Nov 13, 09 - 10:51 am Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Why doesn't the headline say "iPhone Killer"?

Nov 13, 09 - 10:55 am Comment from: HMCIV

Dell: Because nothing says market leader like starting sales in China.

Dell is single-handedly ruining Austin. Wait!?! Texas already took care of that!

Yup Mr. Reeee.
Deja vu alll over again. This is starting to feel like the long parade of "iPod Killers"

Nov 13, 09 - 10:59 am Comment from: HolyMackerel

This turning into another race-to-the-bottom (like NetBooks) where cheap components, plastics, apps, etc will focus on lower price rather than higher quality? Talk about another nail in the Pre and WinCE coffins, and harder for RIM to differentiate.

In 2-3 years we'll see this replicated in the Slate market with dozens of wannabe's chasing whatever Apple has released at the high-end and the Kindle/Nook/Alex trying desperately to differentiate themselves from the masses of Google Android tablets.

Redmond copies OS and now retail stores

Dull copies mac mini (see http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/dells-zino-hd-is-a-candy-colored-mac-mini-killer/ ) and now iPhone

American innovation at it's best

Nov 13, 09 - 11:13 am Comment from: Macdoc

@tzx4 "Yup Mr. Reeee. Deja vu alll over again. This is starting to feel like the long parade of "iPod Killers"

You all are sooo right! Soon we'll see stories about "Blood on the iPhone Screen" as these things are Discontinued...Can you say DELL DJ?

Nov 13, 09 - 11:23 am Comment from: LordRobin

Has Apple somehow managed to sneak stupid pills into all their competitor's water? First the iPod, and now the iPhone, have shown that the other electronics companies have no idea how to compete with Apple's brand of innovation. There's never even the slightest attempt to leapfrog Apple to the next big thing, the only strategy that could actually work. Instead, we get this scattershot of half-assed ripoffs, while the iPhone slowly marches on to it's inevitable spot at the top of the market share ranking.

------RM

Nov 13, 09 - 11:23 am Comment from: Predrag

This is so great! It greatly helps with the balkanisation of the leftover smartphone market (whatever market share remains after iPhone). The more different touch-screen smartphones are there out there, the less likely any of them will be standing out of the crowd. It was easy for G1 to be a viable challenger to the iPhone -- it was alone in that place. Today, with Storm, G1, MyTouch, Pre, Pixi, Hero, Droid, now this, neither of them will mean anything to consumers. It all becomes just white noise, while iPhone remains king of the hill.

Nice job, Dell! Good luck with your little device. Hopefully, will live longer than Ditty...

Nov 13, 09 - 11:28 am Comment from: m159

It's the intense fight for the leftover scraps, after Apple defines the device.

Go to marketing meetings, what do you see? iPhones. Arts board meetings: iPhones. Political leaders: iPhones. Doctors: iPhones. Video and music producers: iPhones. College interns: iPhones. Etc.

Nov 13, 09 - 11:29 am Comment from: DogGone

More products for Dell to lose money on. I applaud Mr. Dell.

Nov 13, 09 - 11:29 am Comment from: silverhawk

There is good news here. Redmond is not getting a penny for OS licenses with Android.

Nov 13, 09 - 11:32 am Comment from: Sixvodkas

@ Meh,

I suppose you're thinking Lib Dem Michigan pulled a winner out of their hats with Detroit?

How incredibly embarrassing to walk around with a phone that had a Dell logo on it...

Nov 13, 09 - 11:40 am Comment from: Jubei

Lets see how long this POS last on the market.

Dell phone = fail.

i.e.: "it won't make any money in the market and will be discontinued within a year."


iCal it.

Gee, MDN...

I hope that comment's not too 'inflammatory'...

Pathetic...really pathetic.

Nov 13, 09 - 11:52 am Comment from: Jimithy

@LordRobin

Well said! And completely true.

@ KillBill -

You're being facetious, but this is actually another example of the free market at work.

People (especially around here and other Apple communities) grouse about derivative work that copies and trades on the good ideas of others. But patent, copyright, and trademark law doesn't protect an idea, and it doesn't protect an idea for good reason -- to prevent companies like Apple from having a great idea for a product and then demanding a premium price for it.

IF the idea is a good one, but can be executed at better value, the copiers come along and try -- and if they're capable of delivering an equivalent product experience, they'll win. Either the original innovator has to improve value or the innovator will be forgotten.

Apple's been on both sides of this -- they WERE pushed to provide better value (via subsidies & lowering prices) for the iPhone because the premium didn't support the experience in the face of also-rans that were "close enough" and a LOT cheaper.

The Mac and OSX on the other hand, can continue to be provided at a premium because the experience provided so far by the knock-offs doesn't come close to Apple's.

If Dell's phone experience turns out to be just as great as the iPhone at half the price, then the iPhone deserves to be dethroned and cast down, with little regard for the fact that Dell is copying it. Survival of the fittest, so to speak.

Nov 13, 09 - 11:57 am Comment from: DX

The question is WHY? Why would Dell feel obliged to branch out into phones when it's already having trouble in it's main area of business? It reminds me of Microsoft's seemingly insane obsession with being in every market no matter how divergent or frivolous. Dell is probably the last brand I'd consider toting around on a handset.

I doubt you'll see that Dell logo on the face after Verizon gets thru with re-stickering it.

As for Android, why are they still using those Microsoftian blob-people in their graphics? They are so 90s.

Nov 13, 09 - 12:10 pm Comment from: Roberto

Beyond hideous.

" to prevent companies like Apple from having a great idea for a product and then demanding a premium price for it"

I read that and laughed. If someone comes up with a great idea for a product they SHOULD be able to charge a premium price for it. No one is forcing you to buy it.

And FWIW your rationale about copyright and trademark law is wrong. An idea is not patentable but a process and product and the appearance of that product ARE protected.

By your standards the IDEA of having a really well functioning product should not be protected therefore Apple should have to share all their IP with their competitors.

Those aren't even actual pictures? In one, the Dell logo is at the top, and in another, it's at the bottom. Likewise for the two lights at the top part of the phone -- in one image, they're on the right and in another they're on the left.

'sup with that?

No attention to detail = bad omen for the workmanship of the unit.

@ @ PCA

I think you misunderstand me - if the patentable technology is what makes the product great, then of course the patentholder is going to be the only one able to provide the experience and will be able to charge the premium.

If the IDEA is a great one, but requires nothing else unique to the idea-haver, then the idea-haver shan't be able to charge a premium for it, because others will come to market with a product/experience just as great for less money. If you conceive the peanut butter and banana sandwich, you can't get away with charging $10 for it because any jerk can come along and make one for 75 cents, steal the market from underneath you, and nobody (except you) is gonna bemoan how that jerk didn't innovate.

The iPhone's patents are keeping it on top for now, but the "killers" will eventually find a recipe that provides a similar-enough experience for less money. Apple's gotta keep pedaling to stay in front.

Hmmm, this DELL phone looks ... familiar ....

Nov 13, 09 - 12:41 pm Comment from: m159

@PC
You can be assured Apple will stay in front. It's the wannabes that are peddling furiously just to stay three steps behind the leader.

Your thoughts on ideas and technology somehow don't cover widespread abuse by an illegal and predatory monopoly, using the technologies and ideas of others. Presume you admire that.

Nov 13, 09 - 01:05 pm Comment from: Big Als MBP

I think Google's Android isn't killing iPhone, it's killing Microsoft's Windows Mobile or whatever the hell they're calling it this week.

Headline should read,

"Another Windows Mobile Killer (or whatever the hell they're calling it this week)".

@ m159 -

I don't think illegal monopolies are relevant to the discussion. I was responding to a comment suggesting that iPhone imitators are something to be frowned upon, when in fact this is exactly how the free market + patent system are intended to work. Innovation and development of new, patentable technologies are ENCOURAGED by this system. If Apple wants to continue to be the leader, they must continue to bring better value or new technologies to market.

Nov 13, 09 - 01:07 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

Steve Jobs was absolutely right when he declared the iPhone was five-years ahead of the competition.

I've never even seen the Droid but from what I've read about it, it sounds like a worthy contender to the iPhone, however it will be years before its value is comparable to the iPhone experience.

In its first attempt to make a phone, Apple redefined what a smart phone is and has set the bar awfully high, however the telephone industry made so damn easy.

Good luck in reaching the bar, mikey. Need a booster chair?

Nov 13, 09 - 01:24 pm Comment from: zmarc

Dude, you got a Dell!

iPhone rip-offs are something to be frowned upon. There's nothing redeeming about a derivative product from a creatively bankrupt company. That isn't a celebration of the free market and patent system, it's a celebration of parasitically riding on somebody else's coattails, trying to cash in on their hard work because you can't be bothered to do your own.

Your idea that shamelessly copying Apple is a good thing since it forces them to drive innovation forward is laughable, because when companies start playing follow-the-leader what it results in is a stagnant wasteland of innovation littered with failed me-too products where only one company, the leader, is making any headway.

If the other smartphone manufacturers weren't allowed to shamelessly rip-off the iPhone, or shamelessly rip-off eachother for that matter, then suddenly Apple wouldn't be the lone source of innovation and creativity in the market as Dell, Palm, Nokia etc. were forced to rub their braincells together and come up with some vaguely original ideas.

The reason the iPhone is dominating is not because it copied all the other smartphones out there, the reason is because it didn't. And in that vein, the real iPhone killer will not be some copycat like the Mini 3, or Droid, or Pre. The real iPhone killer will be something quite unlike the iPhone, and quite unlike anything else on the market, too.

That is how it works. The sooner the leeches attached to Apple realize this the better, as it will be at that moment, at long last, we will finally have some viable competition.

Eh, just rename it the NoPhone.

Nov 13, 09 - 03:20 pm Comment from: auramac

Someone's had too many vodkas- Russia in your back yard? Politics up the butt from which you speak?....

Back on topic, I too am amazed that competition has been reduced to capitalizing on another's innovation for the sole prospect of making company. Microsoft and Dell in particular thrive on this- cheap imitations that sheeplike dim bulb mediocrities embrace. Got black velvet Elvises on your walls, too? Shop much at the Christmas Tree Shop and Dollar Stores? I'm semi-retired and poor, but I'll spend my money wisely.

[Why doesn't the headline say "iPhone Killer"?]

According to AppleMatters resident forum bully 'Beeblebrox'. Only Apple-koolaid drinking, rabid, panties in a twist, kneel-at-the-altar-of-Steve-Jobs-crotch, certified blind MacZealots every use the term "iPhone Killer".

Does the name Mini 3 suggest that two earlier models had failed?

I'm so done with all this stuff. Bring on the 'Next Big Thing', so everyone can copy that.

@KillBill - Thanks for the article - I hadn't heard about those Dell computers. Kudos to them for putting in BluRay. I could see this product affecting Mac Mini sales - 1) given the relatively low price, 2) inclusion of Blu-Ray, 3) small form factor, and 4) choice of OS's - Windows for the mainstream and Linux for geeks. Truthfully I could see purchasing a low end Linux unit to try out in the family room as a "cheap" blu ray device / internet access device.

As for using it on a day to day basis as my main computer, I'm Apple all the way because of OS X.

Regards.

Wanna know who will make the 'iPhone Killer'?

Hint: It'll be the same company that killed the iPod mini.


[BTW, I got permission to use the term iPhone Killer from 'Beeb'.]

Nov 14, 09 - 12:36 am Comment from: Macrelated

Can the HP phone be far behind?

Smart business move on Dell's part.

Launch in china, the biggest technology market in the world potential 940 billion dollar market over there.

Get 1% of that and your laughing.

Only problem with china though is as soon as its released over there the phones will be everywhere, not made by Dell but electronic forger companies - so Dell wont get 1 dollar of the cash.

You guys should not be so unruly on this one. I for one am a bit worried that Android is making great steps into the smartphone market. Google seems to be playing the right cards, basically copying the iPhone, yet adding unique features to the device. As it catches on, doesn't anyone else start to see a similar problem for Apple that it faced when battling Microsoft? A closed system by Apple with combined workings with its Hardware versus an open system by (Google/Microsoft) with others free to do whatever they like with the hardware. A win/win situation for Google, as it was with Microsoft.

If you're a Google fan, this may not be your happy day either. Microsoft profited nicely from this arrangement, but made very little headway in innovation. They essentially waited for the competition to do something, then either bought them out or drove them out of existence by bundling it in their own software.

To me, this is really beginning to seem as though many companies, including Dell, Motorola, HTC have given up! They have just decided to hand everything over to Google. But they are prone to make the same errors that Compaq, Gateway and Dell made with Microsoft ---- Compatibility. Already, you are seeing that Dell has to use a "special" version of Android. I smell incompatibility issues and patches up the wazoo.

For the record, I'm staying with Apple on this one. They created the genre; they lead the genre and are not guessing about what will be successful. They have a track record and they've finally gotten rid of Benedict Arnold in the Board Room.

/rick.

Welcome to the party Dell. You're late, the punch bowl is empty and all the pretty girls went home.