Today brings word Dell plans on re-entering the portable music player market. Really, Dell? Did you learn anything from the failed Dell DJ? (pictured above) I remember nights spent during my Apple breaks heading over to the Dell kiosk to razz the staff, and pretend to actually be impressed with the DJ. They knew as well as everyone else what a dud it was: those same employees were in the Apple Store later to buy iPods.
Moving on... A few notes. First, just about everyone except Microsoft has thrown in the towel on competing directly with the iPod. Sure competition's good, but given their track record, I don't think anyone expects anything particularly innovative, or game-changing from Dell. Secondly, the future of mp3 players is blah at best. Apple, and the industry is moving on. People don't want to carry a music player and a cell phone. At long last, at least for phones and music, convergence is here. Why not start a competing home DVD delivery service to take on Netflix while you're at it?
It way too little, jaw-droppingly too late, Dell
