When Is A Phone Not A Phone?
There is an old joke about a guy who buys a watch with countless features. While showing it off to friends, someone asks him what time it is. Oh, comes the reply, "this watch does not tell time." And I was reminded of that recently, when I saw rumors of a phone which would not make phone calls. And if these rumors hold true, that is exactly what Dell has in store. Well, technically, they are calling it a MID (Media Internet Device), but it will run the Android platform.
This rumor got me thinking, though. Is a converged device with no phone really all that surprising? In a recent four country survey conducted by Lightspeed research, 13% of users in the United states never make voice calls from their phones. And a mere 52% (barely half) of all users in the United States make one or more voice calls per day. Heck, I can tell you from my own use that while I use data on an hourly basis to download my calendar (from Google calendar), sync tasks and contacts, check email, and a myriad of other tasks online; I probably make fewer than one voice call per week. The truth is that for me, and for roughly half the United States, these devices are not primarily cell phones.
Given this data, it should come as no surprise that Dell’s new (and by “new”, I mean “rumored” smartphone is not going to be a phone at all. If the latest rumors hold true, it will be more along the lines of the iPod Touch than an iPhone. According to the Wall Street Journal, the device – which is to operate from Google’s Android Operating System – the new device may also be sold through cell phone carriers, meaning it would have access to 3G or 4G wireless networks. No word, of course, as to which carriers might carry the rumored Dell device; or whether this would replace the rumored Dell phone (which may or may not be pictured above) or whether it would be in addition, just as the iPod touch supplements the iPhone. One thing that is clear, however, is that the people who can answer these questions are not talking. Dell had no comment on any of these rumors.
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