Dell has provided what, in my eyes amounts to a very vague statement regarding the current status the Dell Venue Pro. Dell fully admits troubles with the product and that they are working with Microsoft to fix them. Unfortunately they provide absolutely no time frame for when the device will be ready for shipment, even if the rumored date is January 6^th, 2011. For the moment, Dell seems to be doing a less than ideal job communicating these troubles and yet, they are perfectly honest when they say what they tell a customer today, may not be true tomorrow. Take this for what its worth of course:

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to share the latest ‘unofficial’ information that I have. As you know, we’ve had several issues reported with this product. Right now, Dell is trying to coordinate a plan with Microsoft to address these issues for the early adopters. From what I understand, it may require another hardware swap.  Further, the Venue Pros are being reworked in the factories to address some of the issues and we are awaiting these changes so the product can ship. This is affecting new orders as well.

Once we have good stock in place, then we have the ability to provide replacements. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a good estimate of when that will be. The news I hear changes daily and I hate to give you information that won’t be true tomorrow. For example, yesterday we heard that those folks with existing orders would be receiving a call from our cancel/re-enter team because there were going to be additional delays. However, today, we are hearing that some of these orders will be shipping this week. I couldn’t tell you which ones.

These delays are affecting both Microsoft early adopters and those of you with new orders. While I agree that this was not the best mobile device launch, I hope you take comfort in the fact that there is a good reason for the delays – fixing issues.

Having said all that, I want to let you know that if you are an early adopter (purchased from MS store), we continue to push for a solution whether that comes from Microsoft or Dell.  If you are waiting on a new order and it misses the original estimated ship date, you do have the option to cancel by contacting the sales team.

Again, I’ll post more information as it becomes available.

Thank you,

Amy