There have been rumors of Dell entering the mobile handset market for a while now, but speculation is mounting that the company will team up with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to release a handset based on the Android platform. “Senior industry sources claim the two companies will reveal their plans at next month’s 3GSM telecoms conference in Barcelona, although Google insiders deny an announcement is due in the near future,” reports Marketing Week. If Dell is releasing a phone using Android it could make sense—it’s not as polished as other operating systems (still got quite a few bugs, from what I hear) but it would bring some geek-cred and reduce licensing costs, while getting coding assistance from the web giant. Of course, Dell has done fairly well just slapping Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) in its PCs so could figure the same strategy will work for handsets. For my part, I think Dell should release multiple handsets with different features, including OS’s.

• First Android-Based Prototype Launched
• Android Full Of Bugs
• Linux Uptake Stronger Next Year Thanks To Android—Torvalds