The ongoing drama of Palm's apparent search for a buyer took a new twist today as rumors surfaced that Dell, which has discontinued its Axim line of Windows Mobile PDAs, might be interested in the beleaguered Treo vendor.
It's not clear where the rumor originated, but it's floating through the blogosphere and at least one analyst has told our sister publication, Computerworld, that he thinks it makes sense. Read Mark Hamblen's story here.
A Dell spokeswoman told Hamblen she couldn't comment on the rumor, which always makes such speculation sound more likely. Then again, we've been ground up by the Palm-sale rumor mill a lot lately--most recently, just before Palm issued its last quarterly report. Potential suitors mentioned in speculative reports have included Nokia, Motorola, and even HP.
As for the Axim's demise, I doubt anyone is crying--which is odd, considering the products were pretty good and always well priced. They routinely did well in our PDA roundups, but just never generated the buzz or devotion that Palm was able to attract for its early handhelds and the latter-day Treos (the 600 and its successors).
