{"id":519450,"date":"2010-04-07T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"e2249889-c78b-43e3-9643-b1d7d4aa587b:419749"},"modified":"2010-04-07T08:04:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T12:04:00","slug":"microsoft-branded-pink-smartphones-coming-on-april-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/519450","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft-branded Pink smartphones coming on April 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/NP\/blogs\/tradingdesk\/teens.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/NP\/blogs\/tradingdesk\/teens.jpg\" align=\"middle\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"5\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While <a href=\"http:\/\/www.financialpost.com\/markets\/company\/index.html?symbol=AAPL&amp;id=253929\" >Apple Inc.<\/a> is providing a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/tmo\/article\/report_apple_to_unveil_mobile_ad_network_with_iphone_os_4\/\" >sneak peak<\/a> of its next generation iPhone OS4 software on April 8, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.financialpost.com\/markets\/company\/index.html?symbol=MSFT&amp;id=273978\" >Microsoft Corp.<\/a> has its own <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/media\/blog\/2010\/apr\/06\/microsoft-pink\" >smartphone event<\/a> just four days later. On April 12, the software giant will unveil Pink, its long-rumoured Microsoft-branded teen smartphone with social networking and instant messaging capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Windows Phone 7, which embeds its operating system (OS) into branded OEM smartphones, Pink is likely to be Microsoft branded and sold, says RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Breza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Pink, Microsoft will directly offer a smartphone phone over which they control hardware, software, marketing and sales, intended to offer a more tightly integrated Smartphone experience as opposed to the distinct hardware\/software model of Windows Phone 7,\u201d he told clients.<\/p>\n<p>Reports suggest there are two Pink smartphones coming and they are manfactured by Sharp. Both will have touchscreens and slide out keyboards, and will run the Windows CE OS. They are expected to be launched in the second or third quarter of calendar 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Speculation suggests Verizon will be the first U.S. carrier, with GSM versions coming later. Pricing and data plans are still to come, but Mr. Breza expects them to be entry-level.<\/p>\n<p>Pink is entering an increasingly crowded social networking smartphone segment that includes the Motorola CLIQ, Samsung Rogue, LG Arena and others. However, there were an estimated 25 to 30 million social networking\/messaging phones sold in North American in 2009, so the opportunity is a big one.<\/p>\n<p>While unlikely to move the needle financially, Mr. Breza noted that Microsoft continues to view smartphones as a strategic imperative, and is seeking to regain share in the smartphone market lost to Apple, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.financialpost.com\/markets\/company\/index.html?symbol=GOOG&amp;id=10390991\" >Google Inc.<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.financialpost.com\/markets\/company\/index.html?symbol=RIM&amp;id=98950\" >Research In Motion Ltd.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPink may help Microsoft address a growing entry-level target market,\u201d the analyst says. \u201cHowever, Microsoft will need to walk a fine line to avoid upsetting its OEM partners (already jittery following Google\u2019s competitive Nexus initiative) whom Microsoft is simultaneously attempting to woo back from defections to Android.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:jratner@nationalpost.com\">Jonathan Ratner<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/NP\/aggbug.aspx?PostID=419749\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Apple Inc. is providing a sneak peak of its next generation iPhone OS4 software on April 8, Microsoft Corp. has its own smartphone event just four days later. On April 12, the software giant will unveil Pink, its long-rumoured Microsoft-branded teen smartphone with social networking and instant messaging capabilities. Unlike Windows Phone 7, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4059,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-519450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4059"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}