Why Dell wants to do this + more info on this PDA! (Score 1)

I've been watching the story closely for some time now, and there are a wide variety of opinions on why Dell is doing this and how successful will it be. I've been a PDA user for about 3 years now (4 if you include the low-end Zaurus I had). I now use a Compaq Ipaq I bought for about $500. First off, it will be Pocket PC (nee Windows CE) format, although Dell may offer alternatives (like Linux). For the users in Dell's core consumer market, Pocket PC OS will work with the applications already on their PCs (i.e. M$ Word, M$ Excel, etc...). When I used a Handspring (Palm OS), I didn't like the fact that I had to have some middleware to "translate" my Word documents into Palm's Word format. It's one of the reasons I switched. This is not to say the Pocket PC is the *best* OS for these devices (Linux is probably much better), but it's the one that the core market is going to want. Another reason Dell wants to get in this market is because the PC business is maturing (and not growing nearly as fast), and the focus is turning towards the competition. There are too many computer makers out there and someone has to go! Dell wants to make sure it's not them. By selling these PDAs at $299, it undercuts one of the last remaining areas Compaq/HP is profitable (the new Ipaqs are $649 MSRP - now that's a margin!). There are rumors that Dell's going to be using a Taiwan tech plant to make these (although I can't find the article where I read that). There aren't many specs on the Dell PDA at this point, but if it contains built-in WI-FI, they'll get my business. Here are some articles that explain more: Comdex story about it: http://news.com.com/2100-1040-961283.html?tag=fd_t op_10 Leaked Specs story: http://news.com.com/2100-1040-961229.html?tag=fd_t op_1 Dell's business strategy: http://www.eweek.com/article2/1,3959,640829,00.asp Undercutting HP/Compaq http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,640855,00.asp -mguentz