Computer maker Dell has revealed that the head of its mobile communications group, Ron Garriques, will be leaving the company effective January 28, 2011, although he will continue to offer consulting services to the company throughout 2011. The news came by way of an SEC filing, and the company has not indicated who might take over as head of its mobile technology efforts.
Industry reports have Dell breaking up its mobile unit and folding aspects of it into the company’s larger operations.
Dell hired Garriques from Motorola back in 2007, and Garriques oversaw the development and launch of products like Aero smartphones and the Streak “tablet”. Dell has yet to find strong success in the mobile market: products like the Dell Streak seem to split the difference between a phone and a tablet device (doing neither very well, in some reviewers’ eyes), and Dell’s mobile unit posted a $21 million loss in the company’s second fiscal quarter. Dell also launched a Windows Phone 7 device called the Venue Pro; however, the device has been plagued with Wi-Fi and battery problems problems, prompting Dell to offer replacement phones to customers.
