Dell’s first smartphone will hit the market by the market, announcing China Mobile and Brazil's Claro as the first carriers to sell the device.
The first of Dell's handsets, the Mini 3, will initially be powered by the Android OS, Dell said. China Mobile will start selling the phone by late this month, with Claro to launch by year's end.
The Chinese handsets will be based on China Mobile's OPhone platform, the carrier said.
Claro president Joao Cox said the company would be the first wireless carrier in the world to offer the 3G version of Dell's smart phone, indicating that the first Chinese model may be 2G-only.
Dell has also hinted at further launches in the future, stating that the company has existing agreements with Vodafone in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, M1 and StarHub in Singapore, Malaysia's Maxis and AT&T and Verizon in the US.
“Our entry into the smart phone category is a logical extension of Dell’s consumer product evolution over the past two years [which has been] developing smaller and smarter mobile products,” Dell consumer division president Ron Garriques said.
China Mobile has over 500 million subscribers, and runs a 3G network based on the homegrown TD-SCDMA standard. Claro is a member of the America Movil group and has more than 42 million subscribers.