Microsoft may kill Project Pink mobile hardware
Microsoft’s first foray into the mobile hardware market has been rumored for years, but it’s so far turned out to be vaporware, with nothing ever materializing. And it looks as though Project Pink, the latest step on the ladder, could soon be killed off before it’s been born. At least if an inside source is to be believed.
As long ago as last November there was talk of a Microsoft smartphone. As John suggested, most people assumed it would be based on the Zune media player, despite that piece of hardware hardly setting the world alight in its own right. Still, it definitely looked as if Microsoft was working its way toward releasing mobile hardware alongside its Windows Mobile software.
And that may still be the case, with rumblings of Project Pink continuing. In fact, the first photos of the Microsoft hardware were leaked by Gizmodo just a couple of weeks ago. Turtle (on the left) and Pure (on the right) can be seen in the picture above.
But now comes news that Project Pink could already be dying, with a hardware release very unlikely. A source, who seems to know an awful lot about the inner workings at Microsoft and surrounding Project Pink, told MobileCrunch that Project Pink “is near death and probably will be canceled.”
The reasons for this are: much of the Danger/Sidekick team has left or been fired, meaning there really isn’t anyone left to push the project through to completion; dissent is high among remaining employees, with many using iPhones or old Sidekick phones; the project is two years behind schedule; the hardware isn’t up to scratch, with an unusable touchscreen and poor battery life.
While this one report from one source doesn’t mean anything in the big scheme of things, I doubt Project Pink will ever see the light of day purely because it’s taking too long and there’s so little news about it coming from Microsoft itself. Which is never a good sign. If you were one of the few excited by Project Pink and the idea of smartphone hardware from Microsoft then you may want to look elsewhere.
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