Microsoft to Announce Project Pink Phones on Monday

Posted 04/09/2010 at 5:53pm | by Ryan Whitwam

3

Comments

Print

At this point, the cat is pretty well out of the bag. According to multiple sources, Microsoft's press event on Monday will be the launch event for the long-rumored Project Pink mobile phones. These phones will not be running the upcoming Windows Phone 7, but will instead be messaging phones aimed at text-happy teens. By all accounts, the price will be low to lure in this group.

The Pink phones will basically be the updated version of the Sidekick. Microsoft acquired Sidekick maker Danger two years ago. Several months ago the Sidekick servers experienced a serious failure resulting in loss of data. Given the damage done to the Sidekick brand, we'd be surprised if Microsoft chose to actually call these phones "Sidekicks".

Thus far, we've seen two prototypes leaked, both made by Sharp. The first is internally called the Turtle, and is a portrait QWERTY slider. The second, and more mysterious, is often called the Pure. This handset is a landscape slider. The way Microsoft frames these devices, expected to launch on the Verizon network, will be interesting. Redmond runs the risk of overextending themselves in the midst of a mobile reboot. Do you think there's still room in the market for an inexpensive Sidekick-style messaging phone?

Image via Gizmodo