Can Dell beat Apple in the iPod game? According to reports it's going to try with a Dell digital music player that could go on sale as early as September. Can Dell succeed is the question, or will it end up another Cuil to Google's, well, Google?
According to the Wall Street Journal Dell has been testing its iPod rival for several months. The plan, according the WSJ, is not only to roll out a player, but an online download service as well.
Micheal Dell is cited in the WSJ report as expressing an interest in expanding Dell's consumer reach to include a "broad range of consumer markets."
The Dell digital music player would be the company's second try at entering the market. In 2003 Dell introduced a line of digital music players that failed in the marketplace. Here is a 2005 review of the Dell DJ Ditty from the PC World archives.
Details on the device are scarce, but it is known that the new music player will feature a small navigation screen and basic button controls used for scrolling through play lists. Wi-Fi will be on board as well, used to connect to an online subscription service that Dell is expected to launch later this year.
Dell's new online service will not only offer music downloads, but will also feature movies that can be downloaded and played on PCs. The service is said to already have licensing agreements with online music providers and that it will allow users to download songs and sync them between mobile phones and PCs.
Reports say that Dell's new player is based on technology acquired from Zing Systems, a company Dell acquired last year. Zing provides platform for SanDisk's Sansa Connect wireless players and for Sirius Stiletto. The software based on Zing's platform will reportedly come pre-installed on various new Dell laptops.
In 2003 Dell first entered the MP3 player market with a line of devices that let users buy music from various Web sites. But the sales were under expectations and in 2006 Dell discarded the line, with a market share below 3 percent.
CREDIT: PC World contributor Daniel Ionescu filed this blog.
