There are more than just Apple tablet rumors circulating the Web these days. Big name Apple-competitor, Microsoft, may have something in the works for Spring of 2010. In an article this weekend on ZDNET, Mary Jo Foley disclosed some interesting Microsoft info concerning the secretive Pink phones and services. According to Foley, in an attempt to shake criticism and “shake-up” the Entertainment and Devices division, Microsoft will debut its Pink phones and forthcoming Windows Mobile 7 phones at the Mobile World Congress show Barcelona in mid-February.
“Pink” is the codename for Microsoft’s new set of premium mobile services and a collection (possibly) of Windows Mobile phones that are aimed at the teen/twenty-something market—or so we’ve been told. The Pink phones and services are supposed to be the company’s attempt to battle the iPhone. This is not a new thing—word of Microsoft’s “Pink” phones and services have been circulating for over a year now. Microsoft was supposedly in talks with Verizon to carry a new touchscreen multimedia smartphone—kind of like a Zune-phone—but taking a cue from Apple, Microsoft has been quite tight-lipped about it.
According to Foley, both Pink devices and phones running on Windows Mobile 7 will begin shipping later this year, with the WinMo 7 devices expected in the fourth quarter.