The IT Chronicle

Verizon Wireless is planning to introduce two new phones from Microsoft in May or June according to sources familiar with the matter. The new phones will target teenagers and will offer easy access to social networking sites and keyboards for text messaging.

Reports claim the phones will be made by Sharp and will have the Microsoft and Verizon Wireless brands. A Microsoft-branded phone is a new move for the company; until now, Microsoft has focused on providing the Windows Mobile software to phone manufacturers rather than selling a model under its own brand. Microsoft still intends to work closely with handset manufactures that make Windows phones and the mobile carriers that sell the phones as well.

The new phones are part of a Microsoft project codenamed “Pink.” The phones are intended to compete with Motorola's CLIQ or T-Mobile's Sidekick. The Pink phones won't run the new Windows Phone 7 Series OS. One of the phones, codenamed Turtle, is a vertical slider that will sport a screen resolution of 320×240. The other phone, codenamed Pure, is a horizontal slider with a screen resolution of 480×320 (the same as the iPhone).