Michael Dell's smartphone hints: A show about nothing

Trying to parse Michael Dell's statements in Tokyo today is a lot like watching an old Seinfeld episode: It's a show about nothing. 

Here are the quotes that has Techmeme aflutter via Computerworld:

"It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices. We don't have any announcements to share today, but stay tuned as when we have new news we will share that with you."

And. 

"We already have agreements with many mobile carriers around netbook devices, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that we would have smaller mobile Internet devices or smartphones in the future."

Translation: Dell's not talking, but there will be a smartphone...someday. 

Gee, thanks for that news flash. 

Now you cue up your once-a-month rumor about Dell buying Palm and you have a rerun that goes something like this:

• Dell will enter the smartphone market;
• Roadmaps are fuzzy at best;
• But hey maybe Dell will buy Palm to speed things up.