Pictures of Pink Phones from Microsoft Appear, Fail to Impress

For months now we’ve been hearing speculation over Zune Phones, which turned into something about Pink phones, which had something to do with Microsoft but weren’t made by Microsoft. Today the case of the Pink phone has been blown wide open by some actual pictures of the Microsoft phones as well as some solid information about them.

A “source” for Gizmodo has provided clear product images of two phones that are supposed to be the fruit of the secret Pink phone project. The first is called the Turtle, for obvious reasons, and the second, sleeker and more traditional slider phone is called the Pure.

According to the source, the manufacturer for these phones will be Sharp, though the phones will be branded with Microsoft. Apparently Microsoft comes in on the software side, reportedly including Zune services and a special app store for the phones.

You may be wondering, as we did, why Microsoft chose Sharp of all companies to manufacture the phones. There are certainly a lot more manufacturers out there with better track records with phones. Turns out there’s a connection to Sharp through Danger Inc., a company Microsoft acquired back in February. Danger is responsible for the Hiptop/Sidekick phone, and Sharp produced the hardware for the Sidekick. It seems that some of the corporate ties between Danger and Sharp survived the acquisition and gave Microsoft an opportunity.

But enough talk about corporate genealogy, let’s get to the real question: What is up with these phones? Let’s take the Turtle first because it’s the most puzzling. Who thought it would be a good idea to create a square lump of a phone and then just round off the corners? And the fact that the sliding face is so much thinner than the back of the device makes the whole thing look even chunkier than it probably is. The Pure, on the other hand, looks fairly mainstream, but perhaps too much so. It’s just a generic slider with round buttons on the keyboard and some weird translucent plastic shield around the front of it.

Besides the Turtle looking tubby, these phones are both very boring, and they look like they were specifically designed for a pre-teen audience. Is that really the demographic Microsoft wants to target for the Pink phone?

More information will be forthcoming, and we might not have to wait too long to find out more. The source confirms that both phones are in the late stages of development and could see the light of day soon.

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