China Mobile To Become First Mobile Operator To Sell Dell Mini 3i

11/23/2009 11:36 AM ET

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(RTTNews) - Dell Inc. (DELL: News ) announced Monday that China Mobile Ltd. (CHL: News ) will soon start selling Dell's new multi-touch smart phone, Mini 3i.

Available in Red Passion and Oiled Bronze colors, the Mini 3i will begin arriving through China Mobile's nation-wide channels by the end of this month and Dell direct to follow.

The Mini 3i runs China Mobile's flexible OPhone open source platform, and includes the latest in popular entertainment including pre-loaded 139Mail e-mail, Fetion chat and digital maps for navigation. These smart phones are designed around Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android operating system.

The Mini 3i features a 3.5 inch, widescreen, 3 megapixel camera, and GPS navigation. It also accesses China Mobile's Mobile Market suite of services, games, productivity tools, wallpapers, ringtones and applications.

The Mini 3s to be sold in China will not have Wi-Fi due to an earlier government ban on the technology. However, the device offers a full complement of music, games and other downloadable content.

Dell has not yet announced when the phone would reach the U.S., although earlier reports have said that the company expects to launch the phone in the U.S. next year.

In the third quarter of 2009, Dell lost its position of the world's second biggest PC maker to Taiwan's Acer, and remains as the world's third largest maker of server computers behind International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ).

With the downturn in the economy, technology companies are having a turbulent time as consumers and business held off buying new technology. Dell now sees services as a source of potential growth.

Putting an end to years of speculation, Dell earlier this month confirmed plans to enter the lucrative, but competitive smart phone business. The company announced partnerships with China Mobile in China and Claro in Brazil as the first two supporting mobile operators to sell Dell Mini 3 smart phones.