Microsoft's "Pink" smartphone could rival iPhone on Verizon

It's crazy, we know. Just hours after hearing shockingly believable whispers that Apple's white-hot iPhone 3G could be sashaying over to Verizon Wireless, in flies a Wall Street Journal report asserting that the suits in Redmond are (also?) in talks with America's largest carrier. 'Course, we've heard rumors that Microsoft was banging out a smartphone behind closed doors for centuries now, but much to our chagrin, there's no mention of "Zune" in "Project Pink." Instead, we're told that said handset is a touchscreen-based multimedia phone that will aim to extend the Windows Mobile OS while "adding new software capabilities." Not surprisingly, the article also mentions that Windows Marketplace would be front and center on the phone, and potentially most interesting is this tidbit: "a third-party is expected to make the device." Hey HTC -- seen any strange calls originating from the 425?

[Via Boy Genius Report]

[Whitetooth @ Apr 28th 2009 1:40PM]

UGLY BRICK!!!!

[neodorian @ Apr 28th 2009 1:42PM]

Why you gotta talk about my momma?!

[Temo @ Apr 28th 2009 1:46PM]

The thing in that picture is a ZUNE 30GB... ITS A BEAUTIFUL BABY.

Okay... Just because it doesn't have a big brain or isn't slim... it doesn't mean it is not beautiful.

[repinsnug @ Apr 28th 2009 1:51PM]

@ Temo

Big girls need love too?

[garrenteed @ Apr 28th 2009 1:58PM]

no no that's not the zune brick, look you can see that it's running windows mobile not the zune firmware

[fffunfarm06 @ Apr 28th 2009 2:00PM]

Your pic for this article is quite biased.
That's all I've got to say.
You may continue licking Steve Jobs' ball sack now engadget.

[Tiptup300 @ Apr 28th 2009 2:02PM]

Notice how if it's about a microsoft product they use combination of old stuff, why don't you use this image for when a new apple product is coming out?

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2154/deletee.png

[iphonerulez @ Apr 28th 2009 2:04PM]

Hoooooh-ly crap! Microsoft is about to take a dump on it's WinMo-powered smartphone partners. Ballmer's Bunch is ready to get into the business of FAIL on a full-time basis. They can sell the rest of the WinMo handset industry a watered down version of WinMo, while Microsoft uses a special version. Not that it's going to do M$ any good.

They know zilch about developing MP3 players and smartphones. Microsoft should just stay the hell out of the hardware business and keep developing their desktop Windows good enough so that users might decide to upgrade from WinXP in the near future.

Though I have heard that M$ sells decent keyboards and mice.

[fffunfarm06 @ Apr 28th 2009 2:06PM]

okay you changed it from a biased pic of a zune 30 with some winmobile interface to this one.
thank you engadget for me not hating on you anymore.

[Look_Around_You @ Apr 28th 2009 2:07PM]

The reason is simple.

They want to keep getting invited to Apple shindigs so they can live blog and party.

Start poking fun at them, don't expect an invite. They will have to do their live blogging from post off of Gizmodo.

[Whitetooth @ Apr 28th 2009 2:12PM]

I have to agree with you. Now that I see it in more detail. I think that was just a nasty photoshop work.

Yes, big girls need love too.

I wish my mom used a Zune, or any MP3.

Why bring our moms here? :P

Steve is sick. No licking please. Look at the Swine Flu!!!

I don't like Apple as a company, but I do hope Steve as a human being gets well and recovers from his illness. Hate Apple or not, its existence has pushed the envelop and started the TouchScreen Frenzy and the revamping of many UI. It is like that High School Cheerleader that is sexy and slim and made all those other fat and not-make-up girls that were not easy to let others touch them, feel bad an lose weight, upgrade their clothes, and start become touch sensitive.

[Tiptup300 @ Apr 28th 2009 2:15PM]

Nice photoshop!

[garrenteed @ Apr 28th 2009 2:18PM]

AHHH WHERE'D THE BRICK GO

[Kit @ Apr 28th 2009 2:20PM]

Ah... Engadget, you have done it again!

[TareX @ Apr 28th 2009 2:29PM]

While WM 6.5 start page looks cool, I definitely prefer to have a desktop on which I can place the widgets and shortcuts of my choice. I realize this is far from what the mainstream want (some poor G1 owners still have empty desktops), but it works better for me...

[TheSuburbanWhiteBoy @ Apr 28th 2009 2:41PM]

IT'S NOT IPHONE

[shravan @ Apr 28th 2009 2:47PM]

@repinsnug:
yeah but they gotta pay.
No Microsoft not CDMA, go GSM. Please.
But logically speaking every operator has a premium product and i don't see why MS should not select AT&T (I know, I know, its the i word) to do the business or for that matter, T-mobile.

[haX0r @ Apr 28th 2009 2:51PM]

MS has been wanting a new Zune pared with their new OS + Phone. They have the makings of a great phone AS LONG as they include a slide out landscape qwerty.

[anexanhume @ Apr 28th 2009 2:55PM]

@fffunfarm06

Actually, people complaining about apple articles on a non-apple article is more annoying than the amount of apple articles.

[Whitetooth @ Apr 28th 2009 3:18PM]

Aww! I have been low ranked.... but that is because you did not see the original picture that Engadget posted!!!! IT was really ugly!

[*Just some girl @ Apr 28th 2009 4:15PM]

What are you guys talking about? that zune pictured above looks pretty thin. quite sexy actually.

[inteller @ Apr 28th 2009 5:50PM]

actually it makes perfect sense that Verizon would rather talk to MS than apple because MS is always willing to bend over and take it from carriers like verizon who like to "brand" the phone and install their dreck on it, and disable anything that threatens their kitsch trinket business model of ringtones, wallpapers, and bullshit.

i expect Microsoft to give verizon a great phone that they will totally ruin.

[Steveorevo @ Apr 28th 2009 8:00PM]

Microsoft will never understand or get fashion, art, or design. Tie Dye, although colorfull and eye catching, is a poor substitute for fashion and will never, ever be in style. Period.

iPhone nerds and genius is in.

Zune dork isn't and never will be.

[insky @ Apr 28th 2009 8:14PM]

@Steveorevo
Well considering it was Isaac Mizrahi who designed that WinMo theme, they might just know something about design...not to mention all the other themes designed by Ron Arad, Vera Wang etc... Are you telling me those people know nothing about art and design yet somehow you Steveorevo do? What great knowledge do you hold that some of the greatest contemporary fashion designers do not?

[MNJP @ Apr 28th 2009 11:12PM]

Go Microsoft screw your phone hardware partners and increase the uptake of Android and symbian!

[Kwikit @ Apr 29th 2009 12:38AM]

@insky

Isaac Mizrahi - fashion
Ron Arad - architecture and sculpture
Vera Wang - fashion

[TareX @ Apr 28th 2009 1:41PM]

This phone (not pictured) will 400% have Tegra.

[Templarian @ Apr 28th 2009 1:46PM]

I wouldn't doubt it. Microsoft will probably try to push the device as far is it can go. I would expect a large screen also.

I just fear bad battery life.

[TareX @ Apr 28th 2009 1:50PM]

If it does have Tegra (and it will), battery life won't compare to the iPhone. Tegra is ultra low-power high performance. This is why I can't wait for it.

Question is, will Tegra Android get as much attention (and that 3D UI) as Tegra Windows CE?

[jakem @ Apr 28th 2009 2:13PM]

I hope so for your sake TareX :)

[Vanillacide @ Apr 28th 2009 2:37PM]

Hardly an iPhone killer if it's Verizon because that means CDMA rather than GSM, and therefore (like the Zune) limited to the USA.

[FoxKenji @ Apr 28th 2009 2:44PM]

that way it can crash faster!

[haX0r @ Apr 28th 2009 4:12PM]

Agreed: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=nvidia+tegra&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=F2P3SZ1RivCzA7XHie8O&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

[neodorian @ Apr 28th 2009 1:41PM]

I would imagine a Zune phone would look less like a 1st gen Zune and more like the Touch HD or Touch Diamond 2 running WM 6.5 or 7.

[Richard @ Apr 28th 2009 1:45PM]

Oh god what I would give for that Zune HD

*drool*

[Templarian @ Apr 28th 2009 1:49PM]

// That was suppose to be at reply to TareX.

[jakem @ Apr 28th 2009 2:16PM]

Yeah mine was a reply to TareX as well. Perhaps Engadget could spend some more time fixing their crap comment system and a little less time trying to look for ways to make Microsoft look bad. It's amazing that you guys have the cheek to poke fun at other people's products when you can't even get the simplest things right on your own site.

[Schweppes @ Apr 28th 2009 1:43PM]

iPhone Killer...

How many times are we going to hear this Engadget... To kill iPhonew you have to kill iTunes and iPod...

not gonna pappen now nubbas!

[Darren @ Apr 28th 2009 1:45PM]

You won't hear it from us. Try reading the source -- don't murder the messenger, ya know?

[Erwos @ Apr 28th 2009 1:50PM]

The Zune software is actually quite good, and so is the service. I'm not sure iTunes really has the lead that some people think it does.

Windows Mobile is, to a large extent, their real problem. The underlying OS is quite good, but the interface, browser, and other apps are lagging way behind at this point. I know they've got the ability to do this - the Zune's interface is surprisingly good - but they need to actually ship it in a product.

[dM @ Apr 28th 2009 2:13PM]

I'm interested to know how you would qualify "the underlying os is quite good."

[Zak @ Apr 28th 2009 2:57PM]

Erwos - the iTunes Store is the #1 music retailer in the entire United States, including both online and brick and mortar stores. I'm pretty sure it does, in fact, have the lead people think it does.

To put it another way, let me know when Zune Marketplace surpasses Wal Mart in retail sales.

[Look_Around_You @ Apr 28th 2009 5:10PM]

And let us know when OSX surpasses sales of Windows.

Because we all know the ultimate quality of anything is based SOLELY on their sales volume, right?

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Apr 28th 2009 5:48PM]

Yeah, but their new ReallyPlaysForSureWeMeanItThisTimeDontWorryWePromiseWeWontMakeTheOldStuffObsolete DRM will knock everyone's socks off!

[TheAxMan @ Apr 28th 2009 11:10PM]

@ UnixSystemsEngineer

What's with the FUD dude? You think FairPlay ain't DRM? Or does Apple's shit not stink to you?

[Wilhelm @ Apr 30th 2009 12:58AM]

Windows Mobile is a "good" OS because you aren't really restricted to what you can run or program on it, save hardware limitations. I am running a TI-89 emulator on my AT&T Tilt (HTC TyTN, I think) for example, and to get around the crappy UI, I run SPB Mobile Shell 3.0, which really make the phone so much more usable. The usability of WinMo is it's real high point, where it does certainly lack that signature gloss that seems to be so popular.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Apr 28th 2009 1:45PM]

Wait, Look, it's a Zune!

[iphonerulez @ Apr 28th 2009 2:08PM]

It's a big fat, ugly, brown turd of a Zune with an HD display. Like that's gonna change anything. You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. Sugarcoat a turd and it's still a turd. The Zune is a turd suuuuuu-preme.

[garrenteed @ Apr 28th 2009 2:21PM]

sugar coat a dooshbag and you're still a dooshbag

[Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 28th 2009 4:28PM]

@ SOOPERGOOMAN

Look, in the sky! Is it an oddly-shaped bird? A surprisingly tiny plane?

No, it's CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!