Dell To Enter the Mobile Phone Market Next Year?

Is Dell (DELL) gearing up to enter the mobile phone market? There has been speculation about that possibility since the company recruited former Motorola (MOT) exec Ron Garriques to run Dell’s consumer products division, but so far nothing has happened along those line. (There have even been rumors that Dell would buy Motorola’s handset business.)

But Nomura’s Richard Windsor this morning asserts that the wheels are in motion. He says Dell’s consumer division is focused on bringing the cost of ultra-mobile PCs down enough to generate higher volumes. And Windsor says it is “only one step from there to connected PDAs and smartphones.”

Windsor notes that market for Windows Mobile products “is growing strongly,” with a dearth of competition “as really only HTC has the skills required to succeed.”

His conclusion: in 2009, Dell may introduce mobile phones with both 10-digit and QWERTY keypads.

Dell today is up 32 cents, or 1.6%, to $19.83.