Microsoft's "Pink" smartphone to be Microsoft-branded?
By Nilay Patel 
posted Jul 1st 2009 3:03PM
posted Jul 1st 2009 3:03PM
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
Whats LEFT of the Danger crew? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Hmmm... one more reason not to buy anything new and shiny for a while
gophigure!
I'll believe it when I see it.
Rumors are great. But this next year or so will paint the future for winmo. I'm sure XDA-devs may find a way to pull the new UI eventually! ;-)
i dont see how this is a stab in the back to their partners? is this any different than touchflo? they dont allow that to go to other manufacturers. samsung has their own thing also. the xperia have their thing. so i dont get that logic
This may be a clever move by microsoft, consequently offering a stable (over the course of a few years) hardware platform to developers, like apple did with its iphone.
Game developpers particularly need that same constant hardware platform to develop big games that require long development and finances. In the end, i suspect games will be offered on both iphone and winmo as they are on ps3 and xbox360 and wii.
One problem would be apple is offering a new platform with iphone 3gs that breaks the constant / compatibility with the iphone and is rumored to prepare another hardware for next year... This lack of clarity may hinder the development of games on the iphone 3gs. Not to mention that the iphone 3gs seems to be running freaking hot.
I would love to see google continue to propose android for free for low end hardware, and impose minimum hardware specs for high end android phones, so to entice phone manufacturers and game developpers...
My specs would be :
+ tegra apx2600
+ 384mb RAM
+ 640x360 qhd
+ retractable pad like psp :)
optional :
screen size 4"+
amoled
double sim
external microsd card slot
I wonder if the upcoming HTC Touch Pro 2 would be compatible? I am almost torn as to purchase that or stick with what I got for now.
Decisions, decisions... I know who to ask!