Microsoft to show Pure and Turtle next week

An alleged inside tip backs suspicions that Microsoft's April 12th special event will launch the first phones from Microsoft's Project Pink. Both the Pure and Turtle should show at the San Francisco media gathering and will be the expected touchscreen sliders. A contact for CNET said they would launch on Verizon first and ship "within the month" after the event.

Previous rumors had the launch set for April 20th.

Little is known about the software side of the phones, but either should focus on social networking and will include support for the Zune Marketplace, although whether that involves on-device purchases or just sync with an upcoming version of the Zune PC software isn't certain. They may have a "version of Windows Mobile" based on the tips, although what's been seen so far is a simplified Windows Phone 7-like interface.

Project Pink is largely understood to be an attempt to spread Microsoft's influence in phones further than its shrinking smartphone share and may serve as a stopgap for some users until it can ship Windows Phone 7 in September or later. Rumors have swirled that the project was near collapse last year due to mismanagement and its isolation from relevant product teams, but a quick release schedule would hint that the Pink team has solved most of its integration and development issues in the past several months.

By Electronista Staff