Zune Phone Forum
Zune Phone Forum and News Blog

Microsoft has just released word of two new Smart Phones coming in 2010.  These phones don’t have an official name yet but like all Microsoft products have code Names. One device dubbed “Turtle” appears similar to the Zune with the same buttons and a slide out keyboard while the other device “Pure” looks more like the traditional slider phones. Verizon is rumored to pickup the phones.  Maybe this will keep move will keep Apple with AT&T?

Months and Months have gone by and it seems like we get a little clue every now and then that a Zune Phone could still be in the works.  Some weeks it looks pretty negative that we won’t ever see anything but that won’t stop us from trying to uncover anything we can!  Last week advertising firm McCann Erickson has won a lucrative advertising contract with Microsoft, beating out the other guys.  No big deal you say, but it is!  The Zune advertising people have been caught on record talking about the so called Pink project. Read the clip below from Adweek.

The Office shift follows a pitch for a new Microsoft mobile offering won by McCann’s T.A.G. unit, said sources. JWT, McCann and fellow roster shop Crispin, Porter + Bogusky competed for that assignment, for which the client used the code-name Pink.

It’s a nice confirmation of previous rumors that Microsoft was shopping the project around, and that’s about the end of the new information. But a quick trip to the McCann T.A.G. site reveals a portfolio that contains three videos for the Zune, including two ads and a trade reel. Zune? Pink? Zunephone! Pinkphone! Pink Zune! Pink Zune phone! And so on.

Now, these ads are nestled among a fair number of Xbox promotional materials, so it’s clear that this is one of Microsoft’s go-to teams for advertising in general. But hell, since we still haven’t seen any kind of confirmation that the Pink phone’s alleged specs and Windows Mobile 7 rumors are real, that Pink is a hardware device, or that the project even still exists, we’ll take what we can get.

A new Microsoft job listing has made it clear that the software giant is working on a “Zune Mobile” project.

The Windows Mobile Phone Entertainment team is searching for an engineer that can help develop an interface for the forthcoming Windows mobile phone while integrating Zune features into the popular Windows Mobile platform.

The posting adds: “Responsibilities will include (but are not limited to) developing features for the phone that drive the joy and fun of using the device. Everything from Zune Mobile experiences to killer photo capture and sharing experiences to winning application marketplaces showcasing both applications and casual games.”

The Zune phone, dubbed “Pink”, will use a “800×480 or larger touchscreen, multi-touch support, an accelerometer, electronic compass, digital camera and assisted GPS.”

The Verizon iPhone may be a Zune Phone instead. If not a Zune Phone then something else from Microsoft that merits secrecy and a codename like “Pink.” Something big is gearing up at Verizon and Microsoft is involved. It should be a touchscreen phone with multimedia playback as its main feature, besides calling, that is. The unconfirmed report says that it will not be a Zune software but a modified Windows Mobile OS.

All I want to say is that whatever touchscreen multimedia phone MS will release through Verizon, it better have an OLED display.

Microsoft Corp.’s mysterious Zune phone has been discussed for several years since the world’s largest maker of software released its Zune portable digital media player, but Microsoft has never confirmed any plans on the matter. However, according to a newly reported rumour, the software giant will indeed release its rival for Apple iPhone, T-Mobile G1 and other similar devices next year.

Microsoft is in talks with Verizon Wireless operator in the U.S. regarding potential launch of a multimedia cell-phone with touch-screen early in 2010, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the published information, Microsoft’s cell-phone will belong to a rather mystifying “Pink” project, which is usually considered as a yet another part of broad Zune initiative.

No technical details regarding Microsoft’s first own-brand cell phone are known, but many believe that Microsoft will primarily rival Apple iPhone and similar handsets with its phone. There are almost no rumours concerning Microsoft’s plans to compete against Sony PlayStation Portable video game console.

In fact, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft proceeds with own-brand cell phone, or will create a platform and let other companies make phones featuring a set of capabilities determined by Microsoft.

Microsoft did not comment on the news-story.

Here we go again, the Microsoft Zunephone on and off again saga is back on!

According to tech news site the Inquirer, Microsoft has enlisted Flextronics for a prototype run of about 2,500 Zune phones. The item also notes that Nvidia “has been privately and separately bragging to analysts that they are going to get something big” at the CTIA Wireless conference tomorrow. “There you go, all the market-storming power of Zune, coupled with the tighter power control and reliability of an Nvidia part, and you have a winner,” the snarky site writes, adding that they hear “the odds are good LG will be involved, too.” Posted by Eric Savitz

Microsoft officials emphasized again this week that the company is not — contrary to evidence and opinion — making its own Microsoft-branded phone.

Financial analysts attending the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona this week asked Andy Lees, Senior Vice President for Mobile Communications, during a Q&A session on February 16 about Microsoft’s phone plans. (I listened to the Q&A with analysts via a Webcast.)

Lees acknowledged Microsoft has been beefing up its hardware-engineer headcount in its mobile business unit, as of late. (A good part of that new headcount is the result of Microsoft basically disbanded the Zune business, sending the software engineers to Media Center TV land and the hardware-focused folks to the Mobile business unit.)

But Lees insisted that Microsoft is adding to its hardware ranks inside the mobile unit not because it is building a phone itself, but because it is attempting to provide tighter hardware/software/services integration in the phone space.

Lees disagreed with one financial analyst who posited that the only way to create a runaway best-selling phone is for a vendor to provide both the hardware and the software, like Apple is doing with the iPhone. Lees said Microsoft’s intent is to provide users with  a choice of third-party phones at  variety of price points — and to work hand-in-hand with phone makers to ensure the software is tailor-made for their phones..

Read the entire article here:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2053

Toshiba is the official manufacturer of the Microsoft Zune portable media player, so there is a possibility that the new Toshiba TG01 touchscreen smartphone could be hinting at an upcoming Zune Phone.

That possibility may be slim, depending on your perspective, but the possibility is certainly there.

As you can quite plainly see, the new Toshiba TG01 smartphone takes on a touchscreen aesthetic that is not all that dissimilar from phones like the Samsung Omnia, HTC Touch HD, and Apple iPhone 3G. The 4.1-inch touchscreen on the TG01 rocks an impressive WVGA resolution. Better still, the phone is only 9.9mm thick. That’s thinner that Cupertino’s offering.

Read the rest of the artcle here:

http://www.htlounge.net/article/7412/zune-phone-hints-from-toshiba-tg01-touchscreen/

We have already reported on the acquisition of Danger software by Microsoft a while back.   There is a new sidekick in the works and we are hoping to see some hints of the zune incorporated into the new phone. Microsoft wouldn’t purchase Danger if there wasn’t anything more in the future.  With the recent announcement of disappointing earnings and layoff’s  maybe that will spark the fire and get Microsoft going with this Zune Phone Project!