Microsoft to launch its own smartphone as soon as February

Paul Nesbitt

Microsoft will follow Apple and Google into the smartphone business by launching its own-branded smartphone as soon as February, according to a research note by US analyst Katherine Egbert of Jeffries.

The new handset will be a 'Zune-like phone' according to Egbert with a five megapixel camera and support for 720p HD video and an iTunes-style store.

However Egbert admitted that she didn't 'have any information about the cost of the phone, nor do we know what service providers might be partnered with Microsoft.'

Such a move will add to the growing doubts about the future of Microsoft's Windows Mobile, which has been subject to several delays to the long awaited rewrite it needs to catch up with competitors like Apple, Google and RIM.

'The new phone might explain why Microsoft has allowed WinMo to dwindle to <10% mobile OS share,' wrote Egbert.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was noticeably vague when talking about Windows Mobile 7 at CES 2010 earlier this month. Windows Mobile's already overdue upgrade has now been put back to 2011, according to industry sources.

Egbert claimed that Microsoft is following Google's model with the Nexus One (and HTC) and has teamed up with a phone maker to create its first handset. This device may be the long-rumoured phone project, code-named 'Pink' that has periodically been talked about in tech circles.

A likely hardware partner for Microsoft would be LG, which recently suggested it might release a new Windows Mobile smartphone some time this year, although the company has also committed in a big way to the Android platform as part of an ambitious expansion plan.

'Our recent industry checks indicate Microsoft will be debuting its own phone sometime in the next two months,' wrote Jeffries, suggesting that Microsoft will show off its phone at either next month's Mobile World Congress or at the CITA show in March.