The relationship that handset manufacturers have with operators worldwide have always been crucial in creating a route to market for their devices. It may be just as important in the tablet space. As a newcomer to the mobile device party (excluding Dell’s bread and butter connected laptops and netbooks, of course), Dell has done well to create links with some heavyweights in some interesting markets. In terms of customers served, China Mobile is monster with over 500 million customers. And Telefonica’s presence in Latin America opens up interesting possibilities for the entire continent, let alone Europe.
But what is interesting in the tie-up between Dell and Telefonica seems to be that it its more substantial than a cosy supply deal. The strategic alliance will see the pair “develop future products and services” together. While some of the news release is fluffy- not sure about “enhancing the digital customer experience”, for example, if you are a PC manufacturer looking to break into the mobile space you could do little better than team up with Telefonica, or China Telecom for that matter. Even moreso if you can get that operator to tell you exactly what its own 265,000 customers want out of a device…
Tags: device, handset, mobile, smartphone, Tablet
