Dell enters the smartphone market

Yes, you've read it correctly! Dell Inc., the world's no. 3 personal computer maker, will now enter the smartphone market and is set to launch its first smartphone in China in late November, to be followed by Brazil towards the end of the 2009.

Though details for Dell's long-rumored phone aren't so much clear, Reuters reports that the smartphone is called Mini 3. It will run with Google's Android software and will be based on the OPhone platform, a lower-cost technology developed by chipmaker Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

Targeted for the consumer market instead of the enterprises, Dell's reason for launching in China and Brazil is because of their large subscriber bases and because of existing telecom partnerships in those countries like AT&T and Verizon in the United States and Vodafone in Europe.