While Dell has recently expressed great
confidence in the future of Microsoft's Windows 8 OS, its outlook on the place of smartphones in its business plans is less optimistic.
Forbes reports today that, according to Jeff Clarke, head of Dell's consumer business, the Texas company will abandon its efforts in the smartphone market, projected to value at $150.3 billion in 2014, and drop its relationship with Google's Android OS.
Dell had already ceased to sell mobile devices such as the Aero, Streak, and Thunder in the United States earlier this year, and while some models were still available in China, the Forbes report indicates that this will no longer be the case, either.
According to comments in the report, Dell's experience with Android left the outfit unable to build a business around a crowded platform, with beneficiaries in partners such as Amazon and Samsung. The company will now direct its attention to the latest Windows 8 and Windows RT tablet family, including the
XPS10,
XPS12, and
Latitude 10.