Dell Streak: What a Mess

At the D8 Conference in early June, Dell Communication Solutions President Ron Gerriques said the Streak would cost $500 unlocked. This week, people who pre-ordered supposedly had access to a purchase page, where the price was listed as $550 unlocked, $300 with a two-year AT&T contract. That page no longer exists, and neither Dell nor AT&T will confirm the information.

On Monday, Dell's community blogger Lionel Menchaca clarified that the Streak is coming only to AT&T. An earlier filing to the Federal Communications Commission suggested that the Streak would also be available on T-Mobile, but Menchaca said the device will not be certified for T-Mobile's overall network and there are no plans to support the carrier's 3G network.

Just to be clear, I'm not knocking the Streak itself. Early reviews have been mixed, but it's definitely a unique product and I think techies could have a fun time trying to use it as a gigantic smartphone alternative with VoIP. Dell just needs to get its act together, stop churning out conflicting information, and launch the darned thing already.