The first rule of Project Pink is you do not ask questions. As secretive as an underground fight club Microsoft has quietly been working on a new phone. Buried beneath the massive amounts of attention that the new Windows Phone 7 is garnering, the computer giant continues to covertly develop, what tech site Gizmodo has dubbed, Project Pink.
While conjecture and speculation have run rampant throughout the tech world over the past few months since rumours of this new phone line-up were first leaked, a marketing packet recently received by Gizmodo confirms that the phone is coming—and it may officially be called “The Turtle” (but we’ll stick to Project Pink). But even with these new tantalizing insights, the question remains, why?
Microsoft shocked the mobile world when it recently unveiled WinPho7, and in an effort to closely control the manufacturing process, the PC giant has laid down some stringent guidelines that producers of the phone will have to follow. Notable here is that Microsoft has made it clear that all phones supporting this new OS must have the correct 3 button interface, which strangely means that this new Project Pink (Turtle) device will not run Microsoft’s best tech, and will already be a step behind. Further, even Microsoft’s latest release, the highly-praised HD2 touchscreen smartphone, which has a 5 button interface, will not be upgradeable, essentially making it dead in the water.
While Microsoft’s confusing game plan may make sense in when look back on this, it sure seems strange right now. With this new secret device not running Microsoft’s latest OS, the question is who will buy it? With consumers knowing that the all new WinPho7 OS is coming later this year, Microsoft has clearly hamstrung this device by pitting it against its own latest and greatest tech.
Presumably, to enable this “Turtle” phone to be a competitor in the mobile market, it would need its own app store or series of apps, (because it doesn’t run the same OS as WinPho7, and, therefore, not its apps either) and it will need to be able to provide a user experience comparable to WinPho7 or the iPhone. But with none of the official specs, info on the OS, or any other useful details being released, we can only continue to speculate about Microsoft’s current mental state.
What we do know about the new Project Pink (Turtle) device, however, is that it will provide a different focus for consumers. For anyone following Microsoft’s rollout of the new WinPho7 at this year’s Mobile World Congress, what was noticeably absent was adequate social networking functionality. But with this new line of phones, social networking is the focus of the day, meaning that while it may lack the cool features of the WinPho7 or the iPhone, it’ll be really easy to type to your friends on Twitter (hurray!).
The leaked info to Gizmodo also revealed that Verizon will be the first official carrier of this phone, and they may start releasing them by as early as April. So while the revelation of Project Pink (Turtle) certainly raises more questions than it answers, we all know the second rule of Project Pink is you do not ask questions. Good thing we won’t have to wait long to find out the truth.
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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >
