Microsoft Get Social with “Pink” Mobile Project

Microsoft in a bid to revive its flagging mobile phone strategy, is to introduce a new line of handsets with social networking capabilities aimed at the younger market. 

The new mobile phones will be on sale in the US some time in April according to information reported in theWall Street Journal. They are based on a Microsoft development project code-named “Pink” and made available through a partnership with Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and the Vodafone Group PLC. 

Microsoft has scheduled a press event for the 12 April in San Francisco, which has prompted speculation that the company will reveal its new Pink range. Coupled with the slogan: “It’s time to share”, this would fit the profile of the new social-oriented phones. 

The new development shows that Microsoft is becoming more focused on the hardware aspect of the mobile phone business in order to satisfy consumers’ need for greater sophistication in handsets. 

It is Microsoft itself that has designed the software, hardware and online services for the Pink mobile phones, while Sharp of Japan are responsible for their manufacture. 

Microsoft need a handset that can show off the abilities for its new Windows Phone 7 Series, if they are to gain ground against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Nexus One. Pink could be the handset range to flex the muscles of Windows Phone 7 Series and truly give Apple and Google something to think about. 

However, given the immense success of the iPad which sold 300,000 units last week, Microsoft's press announcement could well be for its Courier e-tablet, which is also waiting in the wings.