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The Internet rumor mill popped in with a couple interesting tidbits today: Sprint may deliver Palm's Windows Mobile Treo a lot earlier than anticipated, while Dell may discontinue its popular line of Axim Pocket PCs.

Sprint Treo
It is well known that Palm plans to release several smartphones this year, as well as roll out the Microsoft-based Treo 700w to additional carriers. (A GSM/GPRS edition for carriers like Cingular and T-Mobile in the U.S. and most international operators isn't due until summer, at the earliest.)

Sprint is the next logical operator in the U.S. for this communicator, as it's a CDMA technology vendor like Verizon Wireless, which currently has exclusive rights to the smartphone. While the length of Verizon’s agreement - from its 1/5 Treo launch date - with Palm is undisclosed, these contracts generally last for about 3-6 months.

Bear Stearns analysts Andrew Neff, Bill Hand and Ted Chung, according The Consumer Electronics Stock Blog, say the Treo 700w will appear "ahead of schedule, as early as end of February" for $450.

That's a month before the end of the near-side of what's supposed to be Palm/Verizon's exclusivity and months earlier than what was rumored to be Verizon's exclusiveness for the Treo 700w, summer.

Dell Axim
In a few short years, Dell's line of Axim have earned a loyal following based on delivering the best bang for your buck around. While the 'standalone' PDA market continues to slip, these handhelds consistently rank second only to powerhouse HP in Pocket PC sales.

That's why it comes as a little bit of surprise that a rumor allegedly provided by the direct PC seller to a corporate client, according to BargainPDA, indicates Dell will discontinue "pen based" Axim portables; making the current X51 line Axim models the last models in the line.

Dell wouldn't necessarily abandon the mobile market altogether, however. It would consider selling "converged" devices like smartphones and cellular-wireless handhelds. Why it wouldn't do that and maintain the Axim line - successfully ingrained in many consumers’ consciousnesses - is a good question.

In the Windows Mobile world, Hewlett-Packard offers a couple of different smartphones - the iPAQ hw6300 and iPAQ hw6500 series - with more no doubt on the way - and many handheld models, while Palm has done well balancing Treo smartphones (Palm OS and now Windows Mobile) with PDA sales—the mobile pioneer earns 50 percent of its revenue now from Treos, in fact.

The rumor says Dell will offer the Axim X51 line - a high-end VGA model, a Wi-Fi mid-range Pocket PC and a Bluetooth only low-end device - until the end of this year, supporting accessories like batteries and chargers through 2009.