Microsoft "Pink" is the Zune Phone for Real

Rumors about a potential Zune Phone from Microsoft have been swirling around for what seems like an eternity, but these rumors have now returned to the forefront thanks to some substantiation from CNBC. According to Jim Goldman of CNBC, Microsoft is indeed working on its own branded mobile phone and will indeed be what we would consider a Zune Phone.

It's not like Microsoft is a stranger to the cell phone market, seeing how it is already heavily ensconced in the realm of smartphones with Windows Mobile, but this would be the first mobile phone that actually carried explicit Microsoft branding. Further still, this first ZunePhone takes advantage of Microsoft's recent acquisition of Danger.

Remember Danger? Those were the guys that brought us the hugely popular SideKick line of messaging phones, so you already know that Microsoft has a pretty hefty head start on their development. Going back to Jim Goldman, he says that a "good source" says Microsoft is "ready to give a major facelift to the company's Zune music player that could mean its evolution into a new smart phone from the company."

It sounds like Microsoft is taking a similar approach as what Apple did when it transitioned from the iPod to the iPhone, I guess. The new handset would be some amalgamation of the Zune paradigm with Danger's Sidekick-inspired design. Microsoft should make a ZunePhone. The market is ready and it'll be a great way to expand the Zune branding.

On a related sidenote, the codename being bandied around in Redmond for the ZunePhone is actually the Microsoft "Pink" with no relation to the singer of the same name. Presumably.

Via gizmodo.com