Dell says goodbye to both smartphones and Android, stops international sales

Dell has withdrawn from the international smartphone market, saying it requires too much investment before becoming successful, however it will continue building Windows 8 tablets and laptops.

Dell has decided it doesn’t want, or can’t get, a slice of the smartphone market. According to the company’s VP of Global Operations, Jeff Clarke, Dell has withdrawn from the business of building smartphones completely and apparently, from using Android too. Dell’s announcement stands out as a surprise in these days of being told the PC market is shrinking, Android’s market share is growing, and the smartphone business has the potential to be worth $150 billion by 2014.

Speaking at Dell World, it’s headline event of the year currently underway in Austin, Texas, Clarke said it had no plans to re-enter the market in the near future either, saying, “It needs a lot of investments to really be successful.” Many of you may have thought Dell had already stopped selling phones, however it was still active in the Chinese and Indian markets until now.

Android will also become less important, as according to Clarke the company found it difficult to monetize in a world apparently dominated by content delivery models such as Amazon’s and Google’s.

While Dell will abandon smartphones, it will continue to build Windows tablets and touchscreen laptops, based on both Windows 8 and Windows RT. Speaking on stage at the event, CEO Michael Dell said they were “optimistic” about Windows 8, calling the touch experience “incredible” and that we’re seeing “a revolution in PCs.” Instead of smartphones and in addition to tablets and laptops, Dell is also working on what they call end-to-end solutions, cloud computing and PC virtualization.

In November, Michael Dell said its Mobility unit wasn’t performing to expectations, and analysts figured its revenues fell by 26-percent and its share of the business dropped by 6-percent too.

Since very few will have missed devices such as the Streak, Venue and Venue Pro since they left U.S. stores earlier this year, it’s perhaps for the best that Dell concentrates its efforts on something new.