As recently as January, the rumor mill was linking Dell's upcoming smartphone line with Google's open-source Android mobile operating system, though one report indicates that this alliance is dead, at least for the foreseeable future.

Dell has a great deal of experience with the Windows Mobile operating system, which may be why it has chosen (if the reports are to be believed) to stay with Microsoft.  The company's Axim line of Windows Mobile PDAs sold well for a several years following their release, but the trend toward converged PDA Phones and smartphones left Dell's Axim Pocket PCs by the wayside.  Though rumors regarding an Dell-branded Windows Mobile smartphone were plentiful at the time, such a device never came to fruition, and Dell canceled the Axim line of Pocket PCs in April 2007.

Onlookers might wonder why Dell would get back into the mobile game less than a year after calling it quits.  One answer might come courtesy of Acer, one of Dell's top competitors.  Acer recently acquired E-Ten, a company long-associated with Windows Mobile phones.  It should also be noted that Dell recruited Ron Garriques, a former Motorola VP, over one year ago to sure up Dell's consumer electronics division. 

These developments, in conjunction with new design and production leaks from Taiwan, would seem to suggest that Dell is moving forward on some type of handheld - but everyone seems to be short on specifics.

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