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Dell, the company that brought value to the handheld market, has discontinued its line of Axim Pocket PCs. The computer giant has finally stopped offering the most recent models, the Axim X51 family.

While the news doesn't come as a complete surprise—Dell hasn't released a new Axim in quite a while (the last models were introduced back in the fall of 2005 )—it is noteworthy for being yet a another nail driven into the coffin of the struggling standalone PDA market. In a world where smartphones rule, there's little room for handhelds that don't offer cellular-wireless connectivity.

Dell introduced its first Axim, the X5, back in the fall of 2002. It consistently released more and more feature-packed Axims models through the years, quickly shooting up to number two in the Windows Mobile market, falling in line just behind market leader HP.

Although the budget-priced Axims may not have been as sleek and sharp looking as HP's iPAQ series, Dell never skimped on features. And it always offered the maximum value for the price.

In fact, Dell can lay claim to making PDAs more affordable for, and therefore available to, a wider variety of users. After the introduction of the first Axim, vendors like Palm and HP were forced to rethink their high-priced pricing policies.

A Dell representative has told a number of sites there are no plans to follow-up the Axim line, with another handheld or, as has often been rumored, a smartphone. The company will continue to sell PDAs and smartphones from other vendors on its Web site, however.

The most recent software patch, called A02 ROM, for current Axim owners appeared in January.