Dell launching mobile phone this week?

"A source with knowledge of the situation" tells TechCrunch that Dell plans to introduce a mobile phone in China in the next few days.

"The information we've received is extremely thin," writes Michael Arrington, who notes the accurate history of his anonymous source.

There have been several reports of Dell launching a phone in the Chinese market in recent months, but not much beyond that basic information.

But there certainly is speculation. Arrington writes:

There is also wide speculation on the operating system, but we're guessing it's Android. Dell has also been working with Google on an Android-powered tablet computer in recent months. But in April Reuters had a report that Dell may be creating a proprietary operating system with China-based software maker Red Office.

What we've heard on the hardware: iPhone-like, touchscreen, no physical keyboard.

This article was first published as a blog post on ZDNet.