Should Dell buy Palm? Stranger things have happened

Reading Mike Elgan's opinions as to Why Dell should buy Palm I can't help but think of the possibilities.

In the column, Elgan extrapolates on a number of reasons I mentioned in a blog a few weeks ago as to why Palm has effectively lost its leading market position to two up and coming technologies in the iPhone and Android.

At some point Dell will invariably enter the mobile computing space in a big way.

While the way that happens remains to be seen, the insatiable trend towards smarter mobile devices cannot be ignored, not even by a computer company as big as Dell.

As the “richer” information management experience matures on the smartphone, people will be less compelled to buy notebooks and, in turn, less compelled to buy desktops.

Global financial crises aside, this hurts Dell and other PC makers badly.

Dell has flirted with PDAs and other mobile gadgets in the past, but a few years ago the potential of the mobile information management ecosystem had not yet been realised.

People now want to use their mobile phone to perform tasks that would traditionally be associated with a PC. Music, search, mapping, Facebook, Twitter, and even movies are now well and truly mobile computing activities.

Of course, a company the size of Dell doesn't need to acquire Palm, it could go it alone with an Android-based device.

As Elgan notes, Dell isn't the most stylish of computer markers (that is changing as the company tries to spice up its notebook offerings) however, just spending a lot of money to buy Palm doesn't mean it can simply shoehorn itself into the mobile industry.

Let's say Dell did come to market with an Android-based mobile device in the same way it ships Ubuntu-based netbooks – a number of possible scenarios present themselves.

- The cost to develop with an industry standard mobile platform may be less than acquiring a proprietary one.

- Dell already has a dedicated software development practice around Linux and Web apps which is where most of the mobile innovation is happening anyway, not in sliding QWERTY keyboards or form-factoring hardware for different applications.

- Dell has already tested Android running on a Mini netbook.

- Dell could develop mobile apps for systems management which could then be used by any Android device, thus adding to the already existing software ecosystem.

Regarding the last point, Palm's WebOS doesn't have this yet and given it is proprietary will have a tougher time achieving it.

So while it's completely plausible that Dell will catapult itself into the mobile industry through acquisition, it's a fair bet it will develop its own range of devices.

Dell's entrance into the smartphone market cannot be halfhearted though as it was with PDAs.

Coming to market with a compelling range of productivity and/or systems management applications will make a Dell smartphone more than “just another Android”.

When you look at the range of companies developing smartphones none have a foot in the enterprise the way Dell does.

If Dell doesn't want to be a mobile company then doing what HP did and going after enterprise software in a big way is another option.

Anything to get away from the legacy desktop PC industry would be a good start.