Microsoft has been steadily plugging away at its little Zune media player for some time now, and critics and consumers alike have wondered when or if Microsoft intended to make the Zune directly competitive to the iPhone by making it a fully-functional mobile handset. Finally, it looks like Microsoft might take the big leap of creating a media mobile phone out of the Zune, and if it is, the software giant-turned hardware designer could be showing a Zune phone as early as January.

Tech Trader Daily, among others, is reporting that Microsoft could be preparing to debut its new Zune phone at the Consumer Electronics Show on January 7th. On what grounds, you might ask, would such a rumor be started? Well, it so happens that Microsoft is responsible for the hardware group Danger, the division responsible for the teen-popular device known as the Sidekick, exclusively featured on T-Mobile.

The mystery device (if it truly exists) is being called “project pink,” or “the pink and purple project,” or something having to do with pastels, potpourri and the like. It will combine the Zune’s media playing interface with hardware that uses an accelerometer. No surprise there…just about everything has one of those babies in it.

It isn’t much, certainly. I’d be willing to bet you can play media, talk and text on it. It will probably take some pictures or even video, have high-speed 3G data (I’m guessing, as T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, Danger won’t start taking the CDMA route), GPS and a highly-usable, customizable graphical user interface. Like every other hot phone on the market. But called “Pink.”

All there is to do is wait for Jan. 7 and hope that those lovable ninja photographers grab sneak peeks of such a handset, if it exists, as soon as possible. Three cheers for pink! Or purple, I suppose.

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Entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 8:18 pm under Cell phones, Leaks, Microsoft, Opinion, Technology.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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