It isn't really our area of expertise, but we've gotten word that Microsoft will unleash two new Smartphones, probably at CES in January 2010. Developed under the project "Pink" moniker, these two slider phones stem from the aquisition of Danger and will continue to use Sharp as the manufacturing partner (not HTC as previously rumored by the WSJ). In fact, they'll be co-branded as "Microsoft+Sharp" products.
One device is "squircle" in shape like the past Zune's buttons. The slide out keyboard houses the mic at the bottom and it is meant to be open when being used as a phone. This device is code-named "Turtle" and looks like a dressed up Motorola QA1.
The other device is more traditionally-shaped candybar slider and is code-named "Pure". The devices had previously been rumored to be carried on Verizon but we haven't heard anything more in this area.
They will continue to use the App Store model that the Sidekick has employed with over-the-air applications appearing on your phone bill. Danger's phone App Store predated Apple's by two years.
We've actually been sent pretty detailed product pictures and could possibly post them if there is any interest in this subject matter. (Or, perhaps to avoid litigation, maybe we'll just Twitter them up later this week).
Oh, and we've recieved something much, much bigger and juicier from Redmond as well. This is something more interesting to tablet fans, but is still in late prototype phases.
Here's a clue.
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Wait...
Microsoft gave an Apple blog a tip on what's coming up? And the clue is "Courier New"!?
BINGO!
BINGO!
from Wikipedia: "Kettler was
from Wikipedia: "Kettler was once quoted about how the name was chosen. The font was nearly released with the name "Messenger." After giving it some thought, Kettler said, "A letter can be just an ordinary messenger, or it can be the courier, which radiates dignity, prestige, and stability."
Messenger sounds like a better codename than courier new, but I guess they've already used the name messenger: http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/products/messenger/default.mspx
also, please show us the pictures
xo-2
9 to 5 mac's twitter feed is talking about it too and the hint they put is XO-2 in normal font, so this clue is #2
what dose it all mean?
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO-
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO-2
Hope that isn't the
Hope that isn't the prototype... ugly
you must be retarded. That's
you must be retarded. That's a picture of the Sidekick(Hip Top) 3.
Semper Fidelis
semper fidelis?
really how long were you in the jarheads for? be rel men like us in the 82nd abn div!
What's with the tablet news
What's with the tablet news at the bottom?
Wait!
Wait! I just read that part. Ah.....
If I haven't missed my guess I would say Microsoft is trying to beat Apple to the punch by releasing their own next generation tablet product. It'll probably run win7 and have multi-touch.
It should be very interesting.
Boo Microsoft, Yay Apple.
Boo Microsoft, Yay Apple.
Anything that has a slide-out
Anything that has a slide-out keyboard is not an iPhone competitor in my mind. Enough with plastic keys that stay the same no matter what application is being used... those days are over.
Not a chance. Multitouch is
Not a chance. Multitouch is fine but you cannot pound out a text message as fast. Real keyboards will always be the more dominant interface.
"Multitouch is fine but you
"Multitouch is fine but you cannot pound out a text message as fast."
As Obama said, yes you can.
Actually, I can. Even faster
Actually, I can. Even faster than a physical keyboard.
The market will determine
The market will determine that. There are plenty of blackberry users out there who hate the touch screen.
Keep wishing piggy Ballmer
Keep wishing piggy Ballmer
really what an ugly phone..
really what an ugly phone.. nothing to compare with the iphone.. period.
Product Pictures!
Definitely interested in seeing the product pictures here or on Twitter. Pre-iPhone the Sidekick line was the best way to have always-on internet connectivity in a phone, without breaking the bank. If Apple had not released the iPhone, I'd still be using a Sidekick on T-Mobile. And their App Store was great to use, if not as flashy or populated as iTunes.
MS
Microsoft has really upped its game with the Zune HD. If these new phones are is the same quality range they could be very nice.
Upping the game from crap to
Upping the game from crap to mediocre isn't saying much.
I use everything outside, often. No OLED for me.
Pink's slow in coming and already outdated, even for a MSFT effort.
The only bit that surprised me was how soon. I figured it'd be a 2Q release.
Seeing how the Zune "HD" is being received by what little market Microsoft has, I expect these will either:
Be a bit early hit, to decline
Or Die spectacularly, murdered by iPhone 3.2, Android 2.0 (Eclair, if Google's fast) and WebOS.
As you can guess, I'm betting my meager money on the latter.
~
Ugly
The dressed up moto is UGLY, and the candybar slider is unoriginal. Also, every phone DANGER produced was crap.
Sidekicks were awesome, just
Sidekicks were awesome, just marketed poorly. The iPhone still isn't anywhere close to as good of an instant messaging device. It also had an app store 2 years before Apple.
Unfortunately, nothing has been done with it in 3 years so it is what it is...
Yawn
Really excited microsoft......not.
you guys all suck. don't you
you guys all suck. don't you get that by MS producing a decent competitor will mean that Apple will produce an even better product? i hate people that just spew out the stuff that jobs says at the keynote…"egh plastic keyboards…..groooooooose!" its better for everyone when companies produce a better product. just look at what the iphone did for verizon customers (okay bad example cuz they were all shitty and rushed phones) but comon competition drives innovation. duh...
that may be true for other
that may be true for other companies, but Apple has never needed competition to improve it's products. Look at the iPod... no one has come close to it and yet they still come out with new features and new models every year. Apple competes with itself, not other companies.
Egh. I might disagree with
Egh. I might disagree with that. Think about this: The iPod classic has chnaged very little over the product's lifespan. It hasn't been enhanced a whole lot because it hasn't needed to.
Sure, Apple has come out with other ipods, but those were designed to compete in another segment of the market (shuffle for the low end, nano for the mid range) I might argue that the ipod touch is the first real upgrade of the classic. With 64 GB of storage, it is still a year from the capacity of the classic.
So, since 2001 only 1 real upgrade? It had no competitors because it was too good for it's own time. Could this happen with the iphone? Not if someone comes out with a real competitor. Then they would be forced to innovate more often than once every 7 years. More than just upgraded case designs and an enhanced OS.
Please show the pictures of PINK!!!!
Plz post photos of the Turtle and the Pure!!! Verizon is awesome, ATT will be DEAD after this and when the Iphone is available on Verizon too! end of exclusivity!!
POST THE PICS!
ok
jI want to see how this works out. I'd say my Verizon Voyager is good but it doesn't beat the iphone. to do this we need multi-touch, a very good media player, a web browser which supports flash and we also need a strong app store and way to connect to our computer regardless of platform. also what we need is for the deice to be 4G ready for when it rolls out and 802.11 N singe antenna compatible.
Windows for Pen Computing
Courier New was introduced in Windows 3.1, Windows for Pen Computing W4PC 1.0 was introduced in Windows 3.1. I don't know what to make of that though.