Dell selling Nokia phones - bad news for carriers

Stefan at intomobile points to new listings on the Dell website showing unlocked Nokia handsets. This is a big deal. One of the stumbling blocks Nokia (and other high-end handset manufacturers) faces is getting distribution for these devices in the company stores operated by AT&T and T-Mobile (the two largest GSM carriers here in the US). I always treasure the look on the faces of the young people working in the local T-Mobile store when I walk in with a new unlocked Nokia handheld multimedia computer. Brief but enjoyable rock star status.

Stefan (who is now blogging at intomobile, having "retired" his Ring Nokia blog) has always been a very opinionated voice on the carrier-manufacturer symbiosis and in today's post writes:

This is the first step towards the destruction of the operator monopoly on devices. If Dell or Nokia or anyone for that matter began educating Americans that if you are a T-Mobile or AT&T customer you can use any GSM device you want, the mobile hardware ecosystem would boom. I'm tired of asking people what phone they have and hearing "Sprint." I'm tired of people asking me when the Nokia N95 will be available from AT&T.

We're talking about the high end of the line here. The N95, N80, and flavors of the E61 are all listed on Dell's site.