Microsoft + Verizon = Pink?
Word of the supposed Microsoft-Verizon marriage comes from and is attributed to those seemingly omnipresent "people familiar with matters." The unnamed insiders suggest "Pink" will be a souped-up Windows Mobile multimedia phone made specifically to compete with Apple's iPhone. A third-party company will handle the actual hardware, the sources say, while Microsoft will focus on creating "new software capabilities" and built-in access to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile (aka Microsoft's answer to the App Store).
So in a market saturated with vaguely cited information, can this latest tidbit really be trusted? Verizon is staying mum -- a representative declined to comment for this story. Microsoft, though, did have something to say. Sort of.
"Microsoft's strategy has not changed," a spokesperson tells me. "It is and has always been to provide a software platform for the industry. We work closely with many mobile operators and device makers around the world because customers want different experiences on a variety [of] phones."
Hmm. So basically, what they're saying is that Microsoft could be working with Verizon on "Pink." Or it could just as easily be working with MIC Tanzania on "Burnt Sienna." Your guess.
No Easy Answer
The answer, it seems, won't be coming our way soon -- at least, not in any official sense. We do know, however, that Microsoft and Verizon have been chumming it up lately: The two companies a few months ago that'll make Live Search (or ) the default search engine for Verizon Wireless phones. That followed a long-term partnership announced and .
Consider, too, the rash of other recent rumors around the tech world: Verizon is in talks to as soon as 2010, those pesky "people familiar with the situation" said earlier this week. (Gee, where have we heard before?) Yet another set of nameless sources says Apple's plan is to bring a series of new devices exclusively to Verizon, including and a . In the end, it all adds up to a lot of speculation with little substantiated fact.
One thing's for sure: A hot new device, if developed well, would be welcomed news for Ballmer and crew. With running rampant and of its own, a kick in the keister may just what Microsoft mobile needs -- and "Pink" could be the force that makes it happen. Let's just hope the company avoids its of the past and comes up with something a little less pastel.
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