Dell has already failed with the Streak and now they think if they wait until the end of 2012 and study the trends of the market they will be able to come out with something new and innovative, not going to happen... Dont they see the only way to really grab any kind of market share is to give these tablets away (aside from apple of course). The only reason why the nook and kindle are doing so well is because of price, if dell actually thinks they are going to come out with a tablet priced above $500 that does just the ordinary things every other tablet does it will fail once again. No wants to pay more than $300 unless its an ipad..... Dell needs to offer the most for the least, but they cant, the only reason why the kindle is successful is because they make up for it in the market place by selling books, music and other related services through their marketplace...the money is in the content not the hardware and thats what most of these companies like RIMM, Toshiba, HP and Dell fail to realize. The prices of these tablets have dropped drastically in the last year as people dont care to purchase an overpriced piece of hardware....Dell better think twice in how they will once again try to enter the market place, most have failed and will continue to do so.... Dell Plots Late-2012 Consumer Tablet Launch Reuters | January 11, 2012 | 01:44 AM EST Dell intends to launch its first consumer tablet computer in late 2012, marking its entry into a hotly contested and increasingly crowded arena that has already claimed arch-foe Hewlett Packard. The once-dominant corporation founded by Michael Dell has seen a growing crop of tablets and smartphones entice consumers away from PCs. But Dell [ DELL 15.69 -0.13 (-0.82%) ] learned from the hastiness of some of its peers and understands better now how consumers value the "ecosystem" of a tablet as much as the hardware, chief commercial officer Steve Felice said. The Texas company, which has slipped steadily in the global PC sales rankings, had dipped its toe in the waters with an enterprise-focused, "Streak" tablet. It now plans a bigger push into the consumer arena, Felice told Reuters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While rivals from HP [ HPQ 26.49 -0.20 (-0.75%) ] to Research in Motion [ RIMM 15.6598 +0.1498 (+0.97%) ] introduced a spate of gadgets with much fanfare and went toe-to-toe with the still-dominant Apple [ AAPL 420.67 -2.57 (-0.61%) ] iPad, Dell kept a low profile with good reason, Felice said. "We have been taking our time. The general failure of everyone that's tried to introduce a tablet outside of Apple" suggested Dell made a prudent choice, Felice said in an interview. "You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year. So we are not really deemphasizing it, we are really being very careful how we enter it. "When you are talking about PC, people are more focused on the hardware itself. When you are talking about the tablet or the smartphone, people are interested in the overall environment its operating in," he added. "As we have matured in this, we are spending a lot more time in the overall ecosystem." Card Close to Vest Felice was coy about which non-Apple operating system Dell might adopt â Microsoft's [ MSFT 27.816 -0.024 (-0.09%) ] upcoming Windows 8 or Google's [ GOOG 624.39 +1.25 (+0.20%) ] popular Android â saying both were viable options. But Felice did say he liked the feel of Microsoft's touch-enabled operating system, which would be well-timed when it emerges later this year in light of recent high-profile product failures, from HP's now-defunct TouchPad to RIM's Playbook. "There hasn't been a lot of advancement and it's given Microsoft a good window to come into the market with Windows 8. I like the touch Windows 8 feature," said Felice, who previously headed Dell's large enterprise division. "We like Windows 8 but we continue to develop with Android as well. We are still going to be more choice-driven, based on the feedback we get from customers." Dell's maiden foray into consumer tablets comes as the iPad and other well-received gadgets such as Samsung's Galaxy eat into PC sales. Some industry executives maintain that tablets do not cannibalize to the extent imagined. On Monday, Michael Dell said at an event in the southern Indian city of Bangalore that tablets were an "additional device." Others warn that clunky laptops are coming increasingly under threat as tablets grow more powerful and take on a plethora of tasks from Web surfing to sophisticated graphics and video manipulation. "When we introduce the products, they will be consumer products, but we are going to make sure that they are very compatible with the business marketplace, which we don't think Apple has addressed," Felice said. "There's lot of use in the commercial sector that requires security and more compatibility, and I think we will be able to address that in a better way."
A typical "follower" response. (Dell that is, not the OP ). I'd fire the a-hole who came up with that "strategy". All Dell is doing is selling hardware, and their hardware isn't worth a premium price. WTF - just get a Kindle or Nook and hack it to Ice Cream Sandwich. Presto - a $200 Android tablet. The screen is a bit small, but WTF ya want for 200 bucks?
Yea I have been reading about how the nooks and kindles are being hacked, where can you find a $200 android tablet running Ice Cream Sandwich? You cant..... Dell doesnt have a strategy, they think they do, but they dont, thats why the streak failed. Going to be funny to watch what they come up with over the next 3 quarters...they are going to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into something that is going to go the way of the streak.
my guess is they want to be in the game later in future and are prepared to fail now. this new technology is just a base for everything maybe. i wonder how many desktop computer companies had this problem 25 years ago.
No - they have a guy (or guys) who want to get paid big bucks for coming up with a crappy plan. This is no different than when Carli Fiorina became CEO of HP and decided to buy...Compaq - a fuckin' no-margins, dead-end business - and call it a "strategy". Worked out great - if the strategy was to fuck the company and get a nice pay package for it.