Dell scraps MP3 player encore, will focus on music service

Dell's plan to chip away at Apple's iPod+iTunes iceberg have apparently melted. After purchasing media portal software in 2007 and announcing plans this year for a new player that would tie into it, Dell has reportedly scrapped the media gadget in favor of building the software into every machine it ships.

Dell first tipped the industry off to its plans for re-entering the media player market when it purchased Zing in August 2007. Zing builds software for streaming music and radio to portable devices, as well as downloading, discovering, and sharing songs and photos with friends. Considering that Dell discontinued its ill-fated DJ Ditty MP3 player just one year earlier, purchasing Zing was a bit of a head-scratcher until the computer maker confirmed plans to introduce a new Zing-based media player back in July.

Now, however, Dell is said to have backpedaled on these plans and shelved the player "indefinitely," according to the Wall Street Journal's anonymous sources. Instead, the company will focus on competing with software like iTunes, Windows Media Player, and many others by delivering Zing software that organizes downloaded music and movies. Once finalized, Dell may bundle this software on its desktop and notebook computers, which is sure to put smiles on faces at Microsoft.

This Zing software is only one component of Dell's new push into media and software services. Last month, the ailing computer maker introduced bundles of movies and music that could be added to any computer. Movies are encumbered with Windows Media DRM but music tracks, available for as low as 50 cents each, are DRM-free MP3s.

If Dell is focusing on media management software, though, it's going to have to bring something truly compelling to the table. Last time we checked the market, it wasn't exactly hurting for a good media management app. But if Dell goes one step further into store territory, it's really going to have to hit one out of the park with a unique business model or, at the very least, something that isn't just another MP3 store.

Regardless of the choices Dell makes with some sort of Zing-based media player or store, shelving the gadget looks like a smart move. Apart from Apple's dominant position, the current rocky economic climate doesn't seem favorable for another MP3 from a company not known for succeeding with them.

Resource - Ars Technica

Dell Launches the Inspiron Mini 12—In Japan

A larger version of the Mini 9, the Mini 12 is officially the first netbook to house a 12-inch widescreen.

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

When the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 launched a couple of months ago, it did little to differentiate itself from the sea of netbooks that were already out there. Evidently, the Mini 9 was only the first of two acts. On Sunday, the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, a larger version of the Mini 9, makes its debut—in Japan. Dell had reached an exclusive agreement with VIC Camera, Kojima, and SofMap—all Japanese retailers—to make the early announcement overseas. According to Dell, the Inspiron 12 will ship in the United States by mid-November.

The Mini 12 is officially the first netbook to house a 12-inch widescreen; the largest so far have been 10-inch models such as the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and the MSI Wind. The Mini 12 creates a new market for general-purpose users who are looking for more screen real estate but aren't ready to spend over a grand for it. The screen offers 1,280-by-800 resolution, higher than the typical 1,280-by-600 netbooks. Its shape is like a wedge, measuring 9.0-by-11.8-by-0.92 inches, becoming thicker towards the back. The weight starts at 2.7 pounds, with a 3-cell battery. A 6-cell battery will be available later on and will likely bring the weight over 3 pounds.

Like the S10 and the Wind, the Mini 12's feature set includes three USB ports, a multicard reader, Ethernet, VGA-Out, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Hard drives aren't the meager solid state ones offered on the Mini 9; you have a choice of 40GB, 60GB, and 80GB spinning drives. Although it doesn't have the antenna infrastructure to support WWAN, an empty slot is available for it, like on the Mini 9. In the meantime, the Mini 12 has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in.

Like the Mini 9, the new Mini uses Intel's Atom platform: The 1.33-GHz Z520 and the 1.6-GHz Z530 Atom processor are both available come November. The Mini 12 is one of the few systems to run Windows Vista Basic, which will be the only choice for operating systems at this time. Windows XP will be available when the unit ships in the U.S., with an Ubuntu Linux configuration to follow at the end of the year. The Vista system starts at $550.

Resource - PC World

Dell readies small, cheap computer for small biz

Dell is preparing an all-black version of its Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, this one aimed at small businesses and set to ship as the Vostro A90.

Dell's Vostro A90: rebranded Inspiron Mini 9

The PC giant launched the machine in Japan today, and while you can't buy the A90 from its UK website yet, Dell has begun posting support documents for the not-quite-new Small, Cheap Computer.

Not new? No, because the A90 is the Mini 9 in different colours and with an alternative name on the box. The A90 has the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 as the Mini 9, and the same 8.9in, 1024 x 600 display, 1GB of memory, 8GB solid-state drive, portage and connectivity.

Big (price) in Japan

The UK pricing isn't yet known, but in Japan the Windows XP-only A90 will retail for ¥92,830 ($972/£606/€761), which is way more than the Mini 9 costs and certainly not what we'd expect a Vostro machine to go for. The Mini 9's £299 price tag is more realistic.Speaking of the Mini 9, while Dell did begin offering the cheaper, Linux version of the SCC earlier this month, readers report it's still taking the company around two weeks to ship orders. To be fair, the company warns buyers of the XP model that they face the same waiting period for their machines too.

Dell Latitude E6400 Review

Could it be all the Mini 9's are being taken by Vodafone, which is offering the machine for free with a two-year mobile broadband airtime package? Certainly, the carrier is currently promising delivery in just a few days - rather less than Dell's two weeks

Resource - RegHardware

Acer gains on netbooks, HP keeps global PC lead

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Taiwan's Acer Inc surged past global champion Hewlett-Packard Co in European personal computer sales in the third quarter, in the clearest sign of the move toward cheap, small mini-notebook computers, research firm Gartner Inc said on Tuesday.

Worldwide PC shipments rose 15 percent in the quarter, with HP in the lead, followed by Dell Inc.

The July-September period was marked by strong growth in the lower-cost mini-notebook category, which Acer has been focusing on, Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa said. This helped bolster the overall PC market in he face of slumping consumer spending.

Acer's market share gains in the quarter were driven by surging sales of its mini-notebooks, a segment in which HP and Dell do not have a strong presence, she said.

Mini-notebooks, also known a netbooks, refer to PCs with screen sizes of five to 10 inches. They usually cost less than $500, while standard laptops can cost two to four times as much.

Kitagawa estimated that less than 5 percent of overall PC shipments are mini-notebooks, but she said the market seems to be growing.

Overall, worldwide PC shipments rose 15 percent from last year to 80.6 million units. At the same time, U.S. shipments rose 4.6 percent to 17.4 million units.

HP shipped 14.8 million units in the quarter, for a market share of 18.4 percent, barely changed from a year ago. Dell was in second place with a share of 13.6 percent, down 0.5 percent from last year, while Acer's piece of the market jumped to 12.5 percent from 9.7 percent.

Kitagawa also noted that Acer saw 16 percent U.S. shipment growth from the second quarter, while Dell and HP struggled.

"In general the U.S. market felt the impact of the economic downturn very much, so especially those vendors that are in the professional market, it had much impact," she said.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway, editing by Richard Chang)

Resource - Acer gains on netbooks, HP keeps global PC lead