According to Dell CEO Michael Dell, the PC maker has plans to foray into the handset market via a smartphone or a mobile Internet device, despite some rumors to the contrary.

An IDG News Service report quoted Dell, who was traveling in Japan on March 24, as saying: "We already have agreements with many mobile carriers around netbook devices, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that we would have smaller mobile Internet devices or smartphones in the future."

Speculations have been rife about the kind of that Dell may be planning - it would likely compete with Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry, and a range of other devices running software from Nokia, Microsoft, or the Google-backed Open Handset Alliance.

However, there are also talks that a Dell smartphone may not be a very practical idea in the present recession-hit scenario, and that Dell might plan to go in for a different kind of handheld called an MID - mobile Internet device - which is a fairly small and light device.

With Dell already having suffered a setback in the smartphones market - with its now-withdrawn Axim personal digital assistant - the company now would like to have a more firm footing. Whatever shape its final handset may take, Dell would definitely try to enter the wireless market in a big way!