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Microsoft's Pink phones revealed?
It looks likes someone at Microsoft is terribly sloppy with where they leave their important files sitting around. Gizmodo has gotten its hands on two images allegedly of the Pink smartphones that we've been hearing about lately. If you believe your orbs, these represent two distinct iterations of devices which the big M is looking at. Taking a glance at the renders, it's clear that at least one model is that Pre-like phone we spied the other day, supposedly (and creatively) codenamed "Turtle." The other device is dubbed the "Pure," and unfortunately for Microsoft, looks like the G1 having a bad hair day... in 1988. Both devices bear a kind of child-like, simplistic look, which actually makes us wonder if these aren't some concept pieces geared toward the youth market. As Giz says, "Project Pink is Microsoft's new phone for regular people," and "Pink will be primarily aimed at the same market as the Sidekick." Much of that info jibes almost exactly with the news Mary-Jo Foley recently speculated on. Then again, with all the heat the company has been getting about this top secret project, these could very well be reference designs (as opposed to proper models) for a forthcoming lineup of devices. Whatever the case may be, we're definitely underwhelmed from an industrial design standpoint. If this is Microsoft's play for the mainstream consumer smartphone buyer, they've got a pretty big boulder to push uphill.
Microsoft's Turtle and Pure 'Pink' phones and Surface Tablet: take 2
Right on cue, Mary Jo Foley has chimed in with her expert opinion on the latest Project Pink rumor. Weekend gossip that has Microsoft and Sharp "unleashing" a pair of slider phones codenamed "Turtle" (pictured above) and "Pure" in January (likely at CES). JoFo thinks that it's possible that the rumored handsets could be announced in January, but any phone from Microsoft's Pink skunkworks project wouldn't launch until Windows Mobile 7 was ready, an OS not expected to ship on consumer devices until the end of 2010. Still, a January announce certainly aligns with the modern product buzz life-cycle: the iPhone landed six months after its unveiling while the first Google co-branded phone -- T-Mobile G1 -- took almost a year to bump hands of anxious consumers. Foley also addressed 9to5Mac's tease of a "much, much bigger and juicier" rumor related to a Microsoft tablet in the late prototype phases. According to her sources, a new Microsoft tablet is part of something called "Alchemy Ventures" and contains at least one exec from Microsoft's Surface team and is presumably led by our buddy, J Allard. You'll recall that Microsoft was already rumored to be working on "Oahu" a Surface-based tablet for consumers. So when might we see it? Mary Jo speculates that Microsoft could be waiting to see what Apple's working on before showing off Redmond's competing design. In other words: February. [Via WMPowerUser] Read -- "Turtle" pic Read -- Mary-Jo Foley on Pink and Tablet
Microsoft's Project Pink finally bearing fruit in 2010 with two self-branded phones?
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.
Microsoft's "Pink" smartphone to be Microsoft-branded?
Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft's mysterious "Pink" smartphone project? Good, cause we've got a few -- and the first is potentially huge. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of "Pink" is now that it's a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what's left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded -- as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What's more, Redmond wouldn't be letting third parties use this new UI -- Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who've made Sidekicks in the past. It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back -- companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it's another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft's selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild -- we haven't even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it's based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or... you get the idea. Hey Microsoft -- you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products? Read - ZDNet Read - AdWeek
Microsoft "Pink" specs leak out: Tegra, Snapdragon, OMAP 3, oh my?
Ready for some more delicious Zune / Windows Mobile rumors after today's June Zune letdown? Well buckle up -- the always-sharp Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet says she's got specs for Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, the heart of that rumored "Pink" smartphone, and they're pretty wild. According to the list, Chassis 1 phones will all have 3.5-inch or larger multitouch displays with ARM v6+ processors and OpenGL ES 2.0-compatible graphics hardware, 256MB or more of RAM and 1GB or more of storage, as well as at least a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, a compass, and accelerometer. Oh, and glory be -- a 3.5mm headphone jack is required. Here's the kicker, though: NVIDIA's Tegra platform is specifically listed as meeting the core CPU requirements, as well as TI's OMAP 3 platform and "Qualcomm 8k," which sounds to us like Snapdragon's QSD8xxx-series chips. If you've been following along, you know that all three of these (Tegra in particular) have been bandied about as potential Microsoft phone platforms, so it makes perfect sense to us that Microsoft's giving its hardware partners a choice of currently-available high-powered platforms for Chassis 1 -- especially since we've been hearing lots of whispers of hardware based on these chips in the works. Here's the thing, though: we've also always been told that "Pink" is the codename for Zune software and services on Windows Mobile, so something tells us that Chassis 1 phones running Windows Mobile 7 will feature a strong dose of Zune flavoring -- a plan Steve Ballmer's repeatedly confirmed in the past year. So how do we think this all fits together? Well, we'll slightly revise our previous totally crazy, off-the-wall prediction: we think "Pink" is the codename for a new consumer-focused version of Windows Mobile that integrates Zune services, running not only on a touchscreen Zune HD, but on several third-party phones. Are we crazy? Yes, absolutely -- but you've got to admit the pieces are coming together.
Microsoft: 'June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers... hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre' Update: It's a hoax
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_June_important_for_Zune_don_t_buy_iPhone_or_Pre'; Microsoft has a new twitter account in support of its Office 2010 product launch. What's strange though, is that the people behind the account seem to care more about the future of the Zune than Office. Two tweets (of five) from this account have caught our attention. The first says,June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers.Then as a followup to the barrage of questions received, @officethemovie adds, New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. Naturally, we're expecting the launch of the Zune HD and/or the unveiling of project Pink. Whatever happens, the month of June is going to be historic with Apple's WWDC scheduled to kick off on June 8th and the Palm Pre rumored for release on June 5th or June 7th.Update: It's worth mentioning that the big E3 gaming expo kicks off on June 2nd (press events on the 1st) -- could be important if there's any truth to the new Zune HD supporting some form of Xbox game integration.Update 2: Sadly, it's all a hoax -- but it was fun while it lasted.[Via Neowin, thanks Anthony S.]
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]
