Is Microsoft working on Zune Phone or greater Windows Mobile 7 integration?
Speculation has been ripe for more than a year now that Microsoft is working on a new phone, hardware to rival the Apple iPhone. Project Pink has been alive, declared dead, and then brought back to life in the space of a few months. New evidence suggests that at the very least Zune is going to play a big part in Windows Mobile 7, and at most a Zune Phone could be in the offing.
Ever since Microsoft acquired Danger, maker of the Sidekick line of smartphones, in 2008, there have been rumors of a secret project codenamed Pink. If accurate, this would be the next iteration of the Sidekick, and represent Microsoft’s first foray into mobile hardware.
The trail has gone dead somewhat of late, but new evidence has now been unearthed which has set the rumor mill off stronger than ever.
On Monday, Microsoft released a Zune update. I Started Something blogger Long Zheng went through the update line by line, and his patience was rewarded. In the source code for the updated driver there are three lines which refer to three new devices not yet in the product lineup. New PIDs (Product IDs) suggest these aren’t referring to different capacity Zunes but rather new hardware altogether.
Zheng took this to mean the oft-rumored Zune Phone was now confirmed, but that may be jumping the gun a little.
Microsoft has promised to reveal something big at the Mobile World Congress event in February, but that is assumed to be the final version of Windows Mobile 7. Those assumptions, however, could be wrong, and Microsoft may actually be preparing to reveal new hardware rather than its new mobile OS.
Either way, it seems clear than Windows Mobile 7 will have greater integration with Zune. In fact, Project Pink could a consolidation of all Microsoft’s mobile offerings into one cohesive whole. Now wouldn’t that be progress. Especially if it turns up in the next few months.
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