Microsoft's Project Pink finally bearing fruit in 2010 with two self-branded phones?
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Sep 19th 2009 7:59PM
posted Sep 19th 2009 7:59PM
The concept of a self-branded Microsoft phone (or two) actually making it to market is more believable than ever. A deterrent frequently cited in years past was Microsoft's vested interest in keeping its Windows Mobile hardware partners happy -- but as even their staunchest supporters (think HTC and LG) have turned to Android to shore up their smartphone lineups, it'd be far less of a backstabbing move on Redmond's part to get into the business next year than it would've been in, say, 2006 or even 2008. Add in the fact that the Zune HD shares 99 percent of its DNA with what could be a top-notch Windows Mobile-beating smartphone, and... well, it'd actually be a little ridiculous at this point if they didn't move in that direction, wouldn't it?This discussion takes us back once again to Project Pink, the oft-rumored secret package of hardware, software, and services (or some combination thereof) allegedly being developed deep within Microsoft's skunkworks. Last we'd heard it'd be based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1 with a heavy dose of 2009-spec components capable of chewing through processor-intensive apps and games, and now 9to5Mac says it's received information that Microsoft will be releasing two Pink devices next year, likely at CES. We've heard for a long time that Pink is one of the fruits (perhaps the only fruit?) of the company's Danger acquisition, and to that end, the Pink devices will apparently be sourced from Sharp -- Danger's primary Hiptop ODM, up to and including the Sidekick LX 2009 -- and will feature "Microsoft+Sharp" co-branding, not unlike Garmin Asus. The handsets are said to be codenamed "Turtle" and "Pure," both sliders of some sort with Pure possibly destined for Verizon. As you might expect from a product developed with Danger, it'll feature tight app store support with carrier integration, but otherwise, there's nothing else to this latest noise. Considering Danger's utter lack of experience with Windows Mobile, that could account for the amount of time it's taking for Microsoft to show its Pink cards -- assuming it's all WinMo- or WinCE-based to begin with. That would also imply that the company would have to start revealing details on its primary next-gen mobile platform in January, which gives 6.5 extraordinarily little breathing room at the top of the food chain.
Of course, 9to5Mac isn't exactly a bastion of reliable Microsoft banter -- we turn to the likes of Mary Jo Foley for that, who's been providing much of the guidance on Pink so far -- but it's an interesting rumor that we think holds far more water than The Inquirer's bunk piece from a little under a year ago. Let's not forget that Danger has a history of procuring its own hardware, and that precedent has transferred to Microsoft by virtue of the purchase. If we see Microsoft+Sharp gear with GSM radios bow in a little over three months, you won't find our jaws on the floor.
A year from now we will be saying, "Wow, look at that phone. It looks so Sharp!"
god, i hope we wont be. that's absolutely terrible.
Hopefully a year from now we will be saying, "wow look at that phone, it's awesome and has reasonable monthly service fees with good coverage. So long iphone."
A year from now on we should be saying: "Not that bad for Microsoft. It will do" ;)
A year from now, MS will be stealing businesses from winmo handset makers. :)
A year from now WinMo OEM business will be dead!
A year from now, I will be 1 more year older.
A year from now the Monoliths are supposed to transform Jupiter into a second sun, but I can't see that happening either.
"A year from now on we should be saying: "Not that bad for Microsoft. It will do" ;)"
That'll do Pink, that'll do.
@Jordan:
A year from now, I'll give a +1 to whoever says that.
"A year from now, I will be 1 more year older."
*adjusts sights*
unlikely.
Today, I will say "1 year from now".
A year from now HTC will be dead!
A year (or maybe 2) from now, HTC will have created its own AWSOME smartphone OS and got ridden of windows mobile :D
A year from now new generation iPhone will come out that will have same look and some minor software updates
A year from now I'll be leaving a comment about something that will come out a year from then
A year from now Windows Mobile will be history.
BTW, i was trying to say(above) that the joke was terrible, i'm all for this pinky goodness
A year from now there won't be any combo breaker like him ^
=T
7 years from now, Microsoft will be no more. The world will be a muc better place because of it.
A year from now WinMo will be renamed to Vista Pro!
A year from now WinMo market share will be shrunk to less than 2%, just like Zune.
A year from now i will consider buying a smart phone.
Are you sure it just won't be like a Google-branded phone? Slap MS on it and get more features.
I hope Microsoft does stab HTC in the back doing this -- Then they will go ALL ANDROID!!!!! THAT will be the day...
That would be suicide for HTC at the moment. If you want them to succeed they need to keep the mix.
please rename it MS, DONT call it winmo!!
It will be renamed to Vista Pro!
Who else would kill for a Zune HD phone?
It will be called a MICROPHONE! Oh wait...
It's already evident by watching the WinMo 6.5 (and 6.5.1) builds that Microsoft is moving to merge the WinMo experience to that which they've designed with the Zune. While 6.5 may be a simply aesthetics patch, 7 looks to be a complete overhaul, a-la Vista or 7 as compared to XP.
With the rumblings of MS moving hundreds (yes, hundreds) of positions to focus on WinMo 7, I won't be surprised if it does come out swinging harder than any other mobile OS. Couple it with solid hardware and it'll certainly be a powerhouse.
Microsoft, unlike the other new OS makers, has wide-ranging and deep experience with placing their OS on phones so can take off running when they intro their first two. CES will be an interesting show. [For no particularly good reason (at least, I can't think of a valid one!) I'm cheering for Android longer term. But it WILL be interesting to see what Microsoft comes up with; whatever it is is undoubtedly going to goose the industry, thus benefit us consumers]
Well the Inquirer wasn't completely wrong since Microsoft did use Tegra on the ZuneHD
if it does look like a Zune HD I'll be so getting one for sure
and.. kinda expecting it to have a webcam integrated too..
Please, please replaced the unbelievably shitty WMP on WM6.1 with the Zune software (or some simplified version of it). My phone now doubles as my music player, but I hate having to use ugly (if effective) third party apps like Pocket Player or Pocket Tunes to play stuff.
Kinoma FreePlay is a pretty good media player, too. Plus, you can use Orb to stream media from your home PC. I'd only recommend that if you have an unlimited data plan, though.
http://kinoma.com/freeplay/get/
Nitrogen doesn't work on non-touchscreen players. I have a Blackjack II, which means that I'll have to stick with Pocket Player or Pocket Tunes. The others (mortplayer, Core player) are too ugly to consider.
I hope they confirm this, I would definitely buy a M$ Smartphone (if as smartly designed as the Zune HD). Also, MS is opening up retail outlets to compete with Apple right, so having a proprietary phone to sell in said store would just add to the competition.
Good point. This would be a nice staple to have in the stores once they really get up and running.
Two in the pink, one in the.. wait what are we talking about again?
we are talking about the "shocker" that will be the microsoft phone
Stink! In the stink!
Knowing Microsoft, you've got that backwards.
@Badger_badger_badger
your sig picture fits that comment too well...
In before apple fans try persuading everyone that it will never work / be lightyears away from the iPhone / crash and burn.
In before someone augments their sentence by the over use of "/".... Dang it.....
In before someone tries to hat an ass through imitation...double damn it....
In before your mother was ready for it
all i'm saying is that if they want to hold on to the tween market, keep the sidekick instant messaging services in-tact... with a UI overhaul. That is the best part about the Sidekick and why they sell so many of them. Why hasn't anybody caught on to that?
i think if i could put down a pre-order now, i would.
lol, the zunephone
Zhune, Phune, Zone? Wait....didn't I spend countless hours of my life playing AoE II on the Zone? Sigh...I have outed myself once again as a hopeless nerd..
NO MORE WIRE HANGA.......*er umm*I mean sliders!
I hope they finally finish WinMo 7 and then release a Zune HD based phone running WinMo 7 (which will hopefully/probably?) be a bit like the Zune HD software. Then they should release WinMo 7 to other manufacturers as well. Hopefully project Pink isn't something else than WinMo 7 + some hardware.
Stay hip Microsoft! base your phone on the Zune HD. Makes us happy.
I hope that Microsoft DOES make this phone - if anything to show Apple that by not actually updating their phones in the yearly-iteration, they will get left in the dust.
Just wait until June bro, i think we'll see quite an update coming from Cupertino.
Microsoft is too late to the game, just like the original zunes. They at least made good timing with the zune hd.
So..nobody is going to need a new phone next year?
Here's my take on what to expect.... something brilliant. It just doesn't make much sense why Microsoft would launch a half assed effort into the mobile space. Look at all of Microsoft's recent projects, they have been pretty damn good. It's pretty easy to see that a new more focused Microsoft is emerging. Microsoft is extremely slow it seems to realize market trends but once they do they're tackling them with a lot more force than before.
or we could realistically expect nothing, as MS hasn't responded to these rumors.
@ichheissesuperfantastisch - Apple, along with most other large companies, don't respond to rumors. Most likely to keep the consumer waiting and drooling.
I hate loving stylus input on Windows Mobile devices. Hopefully they still leave the stylus input for their text recognitions.
But the hope of seeing a Zune HD type of quick smooth interface could be great.
I have the sinking feeling that Pink is the MS equivalent of the Apple tablet: all fantasies and unicorns, no substance.
The substance is there. It's just lacking a SIM reader and a GSM radio.
Now that the iPhone is on version 3, people forget the many years of rumors leading up to the announcement in 2007. Although there were a ton of incorrect rumors, the one thing that they all had in common was APPLE IS BUILDING A PHONE. With the sheer amount of Project Pink rumors that have been floating around, and the complete lack of information on WinMo 7 aside from the Chassis 1 specs, I have no trouble believing that Project Pink is real and that Microsoft will be releasing it next year.
It is most certainly real. I have tested one of the phones mentioned in the article. Actually, quite a nice phone with good social networking capabilities. I would buy it.
@10minute: and Office Mobile (incl. crucial touchscreen stuff like Endnote), Exchange/IMAP/POP support, Appointment Schedule, Notepad, etc etc...there's still some way to go and dollars to be spent before MS is ready to port that stuff over to their own phone, given how slowly WM 6.5, which isn't even that different from 6.1, is coming.
winmo 6.5 works fine, there's really no reason it shouldn't be out already, probably just to coincide with partners' phone launches. who knows?
I don't care what they put in the phone, as long as they put the pictured logo on the back; I will buy it!
This is one phone I'd like to know more about.
Only because I like the color pink.
Only because pink hair is awesome.
The sad thing is, I recognise your avatar from Rosario to Vampire as Moka.
I feel really geeky right about now.
(pink hair is awesome though)
Man, I could really go for somethin' "pink", if ya know what I mean. Seriously though, I really feel MS will pull through. It will be a very popular smartphone, very (90%) similar to the Zune HD. One of the few complaints on the Zune HD, by people that now own it, is that it isn't a phone. MS is doin' big thangs....Win 7 is killer, and isn't even released yet, they hit big with Zune HD, and then theres WinMo. They're on a streak baby. I hope o.0
More like they are reacting, albeit slowly, to their competition. The iPhone OS has been out for over 2 years now. It was nice then, but even nicer now with 3.0. I find it hard to believe MS will have everything ironed out enough to compel people to put down something that works already, whether that be OS or Android. People seem to forget that true innovation is proactive, not reactive. They should have started a long time ago.
Even nicer? The interface hasn't changed in 3 years. How can it be even nicer?
Um...did I mention how stable,fast,useable,easy, and beautiful Windows 7 is?!
Not sure where the "LG and HTC abandoning" Microsoft vibe is coming from, Chris. Neither has ever said on record that WinMo would be their SOLE smartphone OS. In fact, the recently leaked HTC Leo kicks every single Android phone out there in the nuts, hardware and software-wise.
It's just them covering all bases. Nothing more to it.
Yeah. LG actually said in their press release that the Etna is the smartphone for basic users and they have many WinMo phones coming out soon...but that doesn't make a fun story now does it.
synn, you're absolutely right. The point I was making was that neither HTC nor LG -- arguably Windows Mobile's two most loyal partners -- are exclusive to the platform, so Microsoft has less of an incentive to stay out of the hardware business.
If Microsoft really wants to undercut their partners, they should continue to charge for Windows Mobile licenses, and addopt Android for their own phones!
That way they would have a better product than their competitors/partners.
LOL
A year from now we'll still be talking about the zune phone, project pink, etc. as well as how Verizon has zero worthwhile phones.
I had a feeling that MS would go this route. Regular Windows Mobile will continue for OEMs and businesses, then the Zune-based phone will be made by Microsoft, targeted towards consumers. Question is, will MS release this worldwide? Releasing a platform only in 1 country won't do crap.
I hope MS go with this strategy: let Samsung, HTC, LG etc. keep putting out WM6.5 business-oriented smartphones (and aggressively target countries without Blackberry penetration), while MS themselves focus on consumer-oriented versions of the OS.
It's not a rumor, it's real. MS has been working on it for quite some time even before MS bought Danger, and the majority of Danger people were immediately switched to working on the pink phone within two weeks of MS buying them. The rest of the people were switched over just before the most recent (and last ever) Danger device was shipped. Many quit rather than work on the pink phone. Some ended up at HP working on their Android phone under Tom Ryan. Perhaps some went to Dell to work on their (presumably Android) phone also.
I wouldn't be at all shocked to hear that Cisco's media group is also working on a phone too, but that's more of an educated guess than anything.
heres hoping the phoen wont actually be in PINK.
I'm calling BS. Apple fanboys site can't even get their apple product rumors right in the first place so how are we supposed to brlieve an MS story coming from them. Second, Pink is a service not a MS branded phone. Windows Mobile is their one and only mobile OS. Zune HD won't have an third party appstore because they already have one coming (and are going to connect to it later) the Windows Marketplace for mobile. But hey 9to5 says otherwise.
I'll be the first one to pick up a Zune HD based phone but why in the world are they calling it "pink"???? I dont want my phone to be called 'pink pure' for god's sake. I hope its not only targeted at girls and tweens...
Wonderful idea by Microsoft. After releasing their mobile phones Microsoft will release their service packs too!!! LOL. Let's hope they come out with something great
-Brian from http://www.dropshipaccess.com/
It's been eight years since Microsoft tried their hand at designing a smartphone -- long enough for the memories to fade. Back then they had HP (HPaq) doing the hardware engineering and when the HP tried to tell the 'softies that their phone OS software was useless trash, Redmond told them to STFU.
The phone project was a complete disaster, and IIRC the program manager was actually fired by Steve Ballmer. All told $450M was flushed and the phones were buried in a landfill.
So now 12 years later, we get Son of Stinger. I'd be willing to bet that the "new" phone OS will have code in it from that disaster 12 years ago, 'cause that's how the 'softies roll.
I hope Microsoft doesn't take its own route; one of the greatest things about WinMo, is how expandable it can be to fit a wide range of devices from any company interested in using it. Making a phone with WinMo 7, and competing with their own smartphone partners, is really going to shoot Microsoft in the foot because it's likely that companies that sell current WinMo phones aren't going to stick with 6.5 or any WinMo at all. If MS doesn't do well with their phone, that could be the end of WinMo.
Companies will go with the OS that makes them the most money - period. If WinMo is that platform then they will use it. If Android is that platform then they will use that. Companies are loyal to the bottom line and that's it.
Hopefully the firmware on Pink will be something simple.
zOS will do :]
This is what I fear also. Without market penetration, WinMo is not going to survive when it already is a great business phone (but needs firmware/radio tweaking for max function/performance). It needs to saturate the marketplace w/ low cost apps to help gain a larger audience.
I am curr working w/ both WinMo (been using for yrs) and iPhone devices. WinMo lacks apps and iPhone phone func lacks some functionality that has been in the marketplace for yrs.
I really hope some WinMo 7 devices take root. I will take a really hard look at a WinMo7 devices that have descent function + performance and doesn't look like the old JAM/DoPod (why do so many smartphones look like that?). Give me at least a Touch Diamond 2 or Zune HD type look w/ maximum screen size w/o PDA bulk (3.5" screen?).
Competition is great in this case for WinMo getting iPhone like features/looks/HTC skin and iPhone getting WinMo like features.
a year from now maybe microsoft will change their minds and revert back to the danger OS and kill the pink project we dont need another iphone we want our sidekick the way it was
oh and if dell and HP make phones im going back to landline this shyt is ridiculous dells are bad computers to begin with hp is decent but they should stick to what they know- desktops laptops and printers and bad outsourcing of CS to habib in india that had curry while he was on break. but seriously everyone stick to your original products and everything will be easy peasy lemon squeasy in the cell phone world also microsoft needs to consider the deaf and hard of hearing community the sidekick was the answer to alot of deaf peoples prayers because it allowed them to communicate effectively i worked with one lady she was in her 50's and had a sk2 that she used to communicate with her husband so to take away the sidekick is to take away the vital tool for people that are deaf and hard of hearing. I don't mean to preach I just feel other qwerty phones dont cut it ( helio ocean withstanding- thats about as close to a sidekick we will see after microsoft does its dirt.)
If they really thought about it both the Iphone and the sidekick are multimedia devices with a strong hook in social networking apps. maybe the name of the product should leverage that.
Now bear with me, if these are multimedia devices what are the media?. not gaming(xbox); music-pictures and vieos(zune): then social media.(----)
the I in imac , ipod, iphone, itunes tells consmers what to expect, and that they work together.
I think the pink phone should focus on social aggregation complete with xbox like avatars and given a name starting with Y
so we will have x for the xbox, y for the pink phone (Y'all... i dunno) and z for the zune. and all these services will also be available on their windows mobile phone, with W for windows, or hell even work
W,X,Y,Z.... a full mobile solution... it will be hard for any one to compete with that.