Redmond, Washington — With eye catcher aimed at the youth, the Redmond Vole stirred up some speculation on Monday with invitations to a mysterious press event. Microsoft, is rumored to release its much hyped project about "Pink" Smartphone that has been swirling for months on April 12.
The tipsters indicated that company has rotated few press invitations, sent by snail-mail in circular packages, feature the message “It’s time to share,” an event scheduled on April 12 and it is expected that the event is related to unveil the mysterious Smartphone platform code-named "Pink."
Part of the technology giant’s campaign is to revolutionize its struggling mobile-phone strategy, people familiar with the matter said.
Project Pink has nothing to do with Windows Phone 7. Rather, this venture was the brain child of the T-Mobile build Danger device, the Sidekick. Microsoft purchased Danger in 2008, and other than temporarily losing everyone’s data last fall, we have not really seen much out of the acquisition. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, they are ready to announce the new line of phones.
The new devices, supported by a Microsoft development project “Pink,” and will be released later this month in the U.S. through an alliance with Verizon Wireless, the carrier owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC., one of these people said. The device will center on social networking so will probably have Twitter, Facebook and a few other popular services built in. According to the sources, Pink will bear a family resemblance to Windows Phone 7, but would not run the same apps.
Apart from project Pink, two additional phones, code-named “Pure” and “Turtle,” are also expected to be unveiled at the event. Both phones were designed by Danger–the makers of the T-Mobile Sidekick handset–and manufactured by Sharp.
Microsoft’s feverish move in the new phones are the latest manifestation of the software maker getting more deeply involved in the hardware side of the mobile-phone business in a bid to create products that provide smoother experiences for consumers.
People familiar with the matter said the software on the new Pink phones resembles elements of the Windows Phone 7 software, but devices that run on the two technologies are not expected to be able to run the same applications. Some analysts are also speculating that Microsoft may also debut its is-it-real-or-not dual-screen tablet, dubbed the “Courier,” just a week after Apple’s iPad release. However, it is still most likely that we will just see new phones.