In a move reminiscent of Garmin’s parlay in the mobile space, Dell has announced it is restructuring it’s mobile unit. Citing lackluster sales and marketing efforts, Dell’s mobile Chief Executive, Ron Garriques, will be leaving the company. Also, Dell will spread it’s wireless/mobile unit marketing across it’s three key business areas; large enterprise, public sector and mid-size business.
Garriques is most widely known as the former head of Motorola who launched their extremely popular Razr. However unlike the success of Sanjay Jha and the “Droid” franchise, Garriques couldn’t produce another hit and Motorola needed a major rescue that it found in Android. Dell hasn’t said whether Garriques’ departure was at his or their suggestion.
Unlike Motorola, Dell has yet to produce a “hit” in the wireless space. Dell has produced a handful of mid-range Android devices and the Dell Streak. Michael Dell, first showed the streak last year. It took Dell over 10 months to get the Streak out to market from it’s original announcement. The Streak is also plagued with the fact that at it’s 5″ form factor it’s only a smigeon larger than the HTC Evo 4G and Motorola Droid X, and not quite as large as the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Until a recent announcement that Best Buy would sell the Dell Streak in a white variation at it’s retail locations, Dell only sold the streak via it’s website. This is a lesson they should’ve learned by watching Google’s Nexus effort earlier this year.
At one time Dell was a staple in both businesses and the home. Although some may disagree, the fall of Dell actually began when their higher end performance desktops and laptops became available at Walmart and Big Boxes. Dell was king of the phone/internet/mail order business before following the footsteps of rival Gateway/E-machine into traditional retail.
John Thode, who is in charge of Dell’s wireless/mobile development will stay on-board and report directly to Jeff Clarke, Vice Chairmen of Dell’s operations. Garriques will depart in January 2011 and stay on as a consultant. He will receive a combined severance, parachute package of just under 7 million dollars.
source: informationweek
