Microsoft Tablet and Project Pink Phones Coming?

It’s actually been a while since we’ve heard anything from the ongoing Project Pink phone rumor saga coming from Microsoft. Yesterday, the rumor mill started running once again, thanks to some new information that not only fuels the Pink phone rumors, but gives us a look at Microsoft’s response to the Apple Tablet rumors.

Apparently Microsoft didn’t want Apple having all the fun with tablets and began working on their own. This isn’t just another Microsoft attempt at a tablet computer though; this time around Microsoft is looking to cram the Surface touchscreen technology (the same technology that hasn’t gotten into anything but coffee tables) into a tablet PC.

ZDNet reports that an executive from the Microsoft Surface team is working on a mysterious project called “Alchemy Ventures” that’s prototyping a Microsoft tablet. This is apparently a new effort following the previously rumored project, codenamed “Oahu,” that was producing the tablet.

The tablet rumors are even supported by a Microsoft job posting for a senior program manager that could be involved with the tablet design.

Division: Entertainment & Devices Division
Excited by Xbox 360? Fascinated by the technology that powers the Surface? Ever wonder how your Zune HD got built? Bring your talent and passion for building great products to the Manufacturing Test Engineering team! Our team is where all these cool products and more come together. We are a small, high-energy engineering team that builds all the systems that make sure these great products work perfectly as they leave our factories. We literally design and build all the test system used to check our products from the beginning to the end of the manufacturing line and are literally responsible for billions of dollars of products being delivered at the highest quality to our customers.

As a Senior Program Manager, you will own a broad set of feature areas and products, working with our mechanical, electrical, firmware, software, design verification and reliability engineers along with Manufacturing to bring a product from concept into mass production. You will also develop partnerships with internal and external organizations to ensure that our products deliver a superior customer experience.

That doesn’t really mention anything specific enough to immediately bring tablets to mind, but on the other hand, it’s just the right kind of ambiguous HR speak companies use to mask secret projects. Take it for what you will.

Mary Jo Foley, of ZDNet, thinks this tablet won’t be appearing anytime soon, though. She says Microsoft will at least wait until Apple has revealed their own tablet device. That means it will be well into 2010 before you hear anything specific about it. Most rumors are putting the Apple Tablet reveal somewhere in February.

Mary Jo has a little more to reveal on the Pink Phone. It will be Microsoft branded but not Microsoft manufactured, so we can still expect it to come from a well-known phone manufacturer. She also thinks the first Pink phone to be unveiled at the coming CES this January, even though the phone won’t hit shelves until late next year. The Pink campaign already has an ad agency attached to it, in fact.

Pink is still expected to be a mobile platform for premium mobile services. Many think it might actually be Windows Mobile 7, though Mary Jo seems to think it will be built on top of the Windows Mobile 7 core.

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