Microsoft in Talks with Verizon to Develop "Pink" Smartphone

Frankly it's been a little difficult to follow all the twists and turns in the story of Microsoft's Project Pink. We know it is vaguely related to the Zune, but Microsoft insists it's not a Zunephone. So why has Microsoft reportedly been making a deal with Verizon?



The Wall Street Journal said Microsoft has been "in talks to launch a touch-screen multimedia cellphone on the carrier's network early next year." The WSJ even directly states it's an effort to challenge the iPhone (which may soon be coming to Verizon in some form). But if Microsoft isn't making the device, what do they have to talk about with Verizon?

It's more likely that Project Pink will be a service, or possibly a new feature/app of the Windows Mobile platform that will only be available on this Verizon phone, presumably to be made by a third-party manufacturer.

Of course, the most anticlimactic solution is that Project Pink is just codename for Windows Mobile 7, which we've already heard about for a while now. However, intimations that Project Pink will have something to do with WinMo and Windows Mobile Marketplace sounds an awful lot like WinMo 7. And since we've seen WinMo 6.5 already take on some Zune-esque UI features, that may explain the supposed Zune connection in all this.

Let's desperately hope that Project Pink turns out to be something far bigger than that when it shows up on the Verizon site. I'm afraid WinMo 7 is not going to be enough to rival the iPhone. Sorry, Ballmer.

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