Microsoft's Project Pink: Doomed?

Oct 6 2009, 6:00am CDT | by Robert Evans

Late last month, the first details of Project Pink, Microsoft's first smartphone, leaked out to the press. Responses varied from apathy over the design, to excitement at the idea of a Microsoft branded mobile. Now however, it looks like the whole project could be on the edge of being scrapped. According to "anonymous sources" that talked to MobileCrunch, "Project Pink" was never really meant for release anyway.

Apparently, Microsoft started the project as a way to provide a 'carrot' of sorts to the Windows Mobile 7 team. The goal was to "upset them into competing". The source states that much of the Sidekick team that was originally hired in 2008 to build the phone has been fired, and that there are currently no designers left who understand how to finish the product. Neither of the new smartphones are ready for production yet, and the touchscreen on the "Turtle" is said to be totally unusable.

According to the source, Project Pink is now 2 years behind schedule, and the UI lies in shambles due to internal disruptions. He believes the project to be "near death", and has doubts that it was ever meant to launch at all.

If true, these leaks paint a rather dire picture of the future of Project Pink. MobileCrunch says they believe their source is accurate, but I suppose we won't really know for sure until a few years pass with no Microsoft branded smartphones in stores. Or until one of the disgruntled team members writes a tell-all book about the whole debacle.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.