Microsoft's Secret is Pink (We Think)
Welcome to a non-iPad edition of RCPU. Seriously, we're so tired of reading about that bloated iPhone (which isn't even really a phone) that we're determined not to talk about it this week -- although that's going to be hard to do given that it's dominating tech news the way a young Mike Tyson dominated opponents.
Anyway, it's Microsoft that will most likely be trying to make mobile-device news next week. We told you earlier this week that Redmond sent cryptic invitations for a mysterious event to be held on April 12. Well, as usual, the secret wasn't a secret for long. It looks as though (although Microsoft hasn't confirmed this) Microsoft really will be unveiling its “Pink” line of phones next week.
This whole Pink thing is aimed at young folks who just can't get themselves off of the Twitter and the Facebook, so it won't likely have an enterprise impact. Pink's platform will look a bit like Windows Phone 7, but the devices won't run the same applications -- or so reports The Wall Street Journal in the link above. That leads us to wonder: Why is Microsoft doing this? Why does Microsoft always have to come up with multiple names and platforms for the same category of device?
Why couldn't Windows Phone 7 just do what Pink phones will do and vice versa? Maybe Microsoft will answer all of these questions on Monday, but for now we just don't see the point of Pink. An iPhone is, after all, an iPhone, right? Aside from maybe different levels of storage, we're not aware of multiple models of iPhones with some that do some things and others that don't. Microsoft, we hope you know what you're doing here with Pink. We hope we'll get an explanation on Monday.
Do you understand Microsoft's mobile strategy? Do you care about it? Sound off at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on April 07, 2010