Dell Says Entertainment Will Be Key to Its Products

Dell Says Entertainment Will Be Key to Its Products
From:http://www.electronics-in-china.com/buy-player/
Key words: player, notebook, audio,Mp3
Dell will make entertainment more of a focus for all its consumer products, but declined to confirm a report that it will take another swing at the digital music player market.

The music player could ship as early as September, priced at less than US$100, according to the report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. It is seen as Dell's response to Apple's dominant iPod music player.

The player will be linked to a set of new services similar to Apple's, including an Internet-based music download service and software that allows users to organize their music on the device, the Journal said.

A Dell spokesman wouldn't confirm the report and played down the significance of any particular device. The company's strategy is to provide more entertainment options in all its products, including better ways to download and consume music and video on its notebooks, said spokesman Bob Kaufman.

Dell is working with user-interface experts and engineers to study how people consume video and music in order to provide better entertainment options, he said. The UI experts and engineers come partly from Dell's 2007 acquisition of Zing Systems, which developed audio, and entertainment devices and services.

Ben Bajarin, a director at Creative Strategies, agreed that the MP3 player itself is not what's most important to Dell. The company sees the music and video businesses as a way to create an ecosystem of complementary products, a bit like Apple has done with its computers and music players.

"Dell understands that software and services are a critical component of their long-term strategy. It looks as though they are looking to start testing the waters with that direction with a low-cost entertainment device as a start," he said.

And don't rule out the possibility of a phone from Dell, Bajarin said -- although he advised the company against it. "Mobile is an enticing market because it is so large; however, it is highly fragmented, which makes it a tough market as well.