Microsoft Project Pink getting imminent Verizon launch? [Updated]
Microsoft's oft-rumored Project Pink consumer cellphone platform has seemingly had another shot of credibility in the arm today, with Gizmodo claiming to have been sent a stack of promotional materials tipping a near launch. As well as reusing the same graphic of the so-called Turtle phone as we saw leaked last year, they also confirm Verizon as the carrier and position the handset as a social media-centric messaging device.
[Update: New tipsters have apparently confirmed that both the Turtle and the Pure (aka the Sharp PB10ZU and the PB20ZU) will be available, and are likely to launch in late April 2010. The production names are still not finalized, but the UI shares some of Windows Phone 7's appearance along with "some sort of UI skin/more of a social-networking edge".]
Gizmodo are only sharing one tiny graphic – the one you see above – because their hoard apparently came from someone working with Microsoft and they want to protect their identity. Still, they're asking us to believe that the rest is legitimate even if we can't see it; the documents are supposedly only days old, and discuss the launch as if it's imminent.
The smartphone runs an OS other than Windows Phone 7 but also seems to include some sort of app platform; it's unclear what the basis of that platform might be. There are also no specifications of the Turtle device, nor any indication of what its commercial name might be. Still, if the timescales they're talking about pan out, we shouldn't have too long to wait.