Smartphone Prospects Are Encouraging New Handset Makers To Enter The Market

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) must be making the cellphone business look too easy. With the company on track to sell 10 million iPhones this year?after only launching the device in July?it seems a number of other companies are willing to give it a shot. This week, two new companies are rumored to be entering the market with details about two other handset manufacturers making phones based on the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android operating system.

-- Dell is planning to develop a Windows Mobile handset with the help of Foxconn Electronics, according DigiTimes. The report said Dell has been reorganizing its team for handheld devices since it hired Ron Garriques, Motorola's (NYSE: MOT) former mobile devices EVP last year. Foxconn is also reportedly recruiting talent from other Taiwan-based handset makers in preparation for accepting orders from Dell.

-- Velocity Mobile, based in Seattle and London, and backed by Inventec, a Taiwanese original design manufacturer, is expected to launch a new smartphone at CTIA in a couple of weeks, reports RCR. Inventec reported more than $11 billion in revenue in 2007 and claims to be the world's third-largest notebook manufacturer.

-- Details on HTC's first Google Android phone were leaked this week. InfoWorld reported that the phone will be called "Dream," and it will have a large touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad, and could be the first Android phone to hit the market later this year. The phone sounds similar to other HTC devices?it is expected to be about 5 inches long and 3 inches wide, with a keypad underneath a screen that either slides or swivels out.

-- In the same InfoWorld report, it said that Samsung is speeding up the development of its own Android phone, although no details were available.