Dell to sell build-to-order cell phones?
Word on the street is that Dell is working on a build-to-order cell phone called the MePhone, which will be announced next month and go on sale September 9.
Of course, this is all just rumor at this point. But the whole thing is plausible for several reasons:
1. Dell tends to make foolish forays into consumer electronics from time to time, such as when the company sold a Dell PDA called the Axim back in 2002. The product line was abandoned in 2007.
2. That same year, Dell inexplicably hired Motorola big-whig Ron Garriques.
3. Google's Android platform would make it possible for Dell to offer a phone that Dell can control without being pushed around by Microsoft. (On the other hand, rumors say Dell produced both an Android and a Windows Mobile prototype.)Â
4. It would enable Dell to compete with Apple in an important, high-visibility market.Â
Would a build-to-order cell phone even be possible? Theoretically, yes. Longtime readers may remember my reporting in this space about a year ago that a company called zzzPhone had launched a build-to-order cell phone business. The site used the same model pioneered by Dell in the 1990s where you go on the site, spec out the device, and have your custom-built system shipped to you.
I also wrote about another customizable phone called the Modu.Â
Of course, both zzzPhone and Modu failed miserably. But could Dell make it work?Â
If Dell offers something like this, would you consider buying your phone from Dell?Â
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