Dell’s recent announcement that it’s halting smartphone sales in the U.S. made us think back on all of the company's ambitious but failed products. Though the manufacturer excels in traditional laptop and desktop sales, it continuously struggles to perform as well in other segments like mobile. But hey, you can't fault America's second-largest PC vendor for trying.
Dell recently announced that it's halting production on its smartphones in the U.S. to focus more on "emerging markets and higher-margin products." The desktop and laptop company must have realized that its Venue models of Windows Phones, though well made, weren't selling. Dell's Smartphones will still be available in India, South Korea, Japan, China and several other countries. The company says it will push out mobile products later this year, although details are vague on what those products may be.We suspect that they may just go with Windows 8 tablets.
When Dell's tablet/laptop premiered in 2010, jaws were dropping over its tablet/laptop dual-duties. But users quickly found that the device wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The 10.1-inch tablet had poor battery life and wasn't exactly cheap ($550). The Inspiron Duo is no longer available on Dell's website.
Review of the Dell Inspiron Duo
Dell tried to create its own iPod Shuffle killer with the DJ Ditty, an inexpensive MP3 player which featured 5GB of memory and an FM radio. But the company failed to create a retail channel like iTunes, and that factor as well as poor battery life brought this little Ditty to an end in 2006.
Too small to be a tablet and too large to be a smartphone, Dell's Streak 5 had its fair share of problems. In addition to running on an outdated version of Android, the device didn't support Flash or Divx and Xvid video formats, had a low screen resolution (480 x 800) and was overpriced. After sales refused to pick up, Dell quietly pulled the Streak 5 from its site.
Before the Adamo came out in 2009, the ultraportable computer was hyped for its attractive design, giant screen and thinness-even slimmer than a MacBook Air. But after its release, the praises turned into complaints. The Adamo was underpowered, sported only a 1.3-GHz processor, didn't provide decent upgrades and, on top of that, had a $2,000 base price tag. Originally aiming to rival the MacBook Air and Lenovo ThinkPad X301, the line was killed in 2011.
