So the Zune HD is out, Windows Mobile 6.5 is starting to come out, Windows Mobile 7 will come out end of next year, and all of this relates to project Pink and new rumors of device code-names Pure and Turtle, and a Surface-related tablet just how exactly?

Sigh. Microsoft is like that cousin that we just know could be great but somehow keeps getting turned around, lost, and otherwise just not-quite delivering on it’s amazing potential. Imagine if they had one division, making one platform, and all that effort and integration went into delivering a killer XboxPhone in time for the holidays this year? And don’t hate on us for saying that, even our sibling site WMExperts is pounding the integration drum.

Back in the real world, however, Microsoft is said to be using a 2-prong strategy, Windows Mobile 6.5 now to compete with Android, and Windows Mobile 7 next year to compete with the iPhone (which, if Apple keeps up with their own roadmap, will be on its 4th hardware revision and running iPhone OS 4.0 — a moving target indeed).

The Zune HD meanwhile is positioned somewhere between the original and current iPod touch.

Microsoft is also rumored to be working on a tablet, based on their big-@$$ Surface table, to market against Apple’s still unannounced iTablet/iPad. Surface uses infrared camera technology, and required a huge basin to house all that hardware, so no doubt this will be Surface in name only (because who wants a 4 foot thick tablet, right?)

And on top of that, Microsoft is still working on Project Pink, which is a giant unknown, except it might be using Danger (makers of the Sidekick, bought out by Microsoft), and might be a Microsoft phone (though Microsoft swears they aren’t making a phone — just like Steve Jobs said no one wanted video on an iPod).

Pure and Turtle would then be these Danger-developed, Sidekick-like handsets running Windows Mobile 7, with on-board Zune software to handle the media layer?

Yeah, we don’t know either. Would that — Sidekick hardware running WinMo7 and Zune HD interface — be competitive with an 4th gen iPhone running iPhone 4.0?

We’re only a year away from knowing….

[Via WMExperts via 9to5mac]

On the eve of Microsoft releasing its new Zune HD platform (the one targeted at competing with the iPod touch), Windows Super-siter, Paul Thurrott is reporting that the still nascent plain vanilla Zune platform (the one targeted at competing with the iPod touch and classic) is being abandoned. (Shades of PlaysForSure?)

Likewise, the Wall Street Journal breaks word that Microsoft’s general manager of Zune marketing, Chris Stephenson is also being discontinued, leaving to take a position at Universal’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records.

The Zune HD admittedly looks like a more-than-compelling competitor to the 2007 iPod touch (the 2009 model, well have to see), and has bloggers strangely enthused, but it’s curious Microsoft is cutting support for previous players at the same time. Though Apple also believes them to be a dwindling market, rumor has it we’ll see camera-sporting iPod nano and classic come next Wednesday.

Could this actually be a sign of Microsoft gaining some much-needed focus? And will the logical, and still denied, ZunePhone be next? (And what would that mean for current Windows Mobile ODMs?)

(We’re still hoping for an XboxPhone instead!)

[Via Daring Fireball]

UPDATED: Shoulda stuck with our instincts. Fake. (via Engadget)

ORIGINAL: When we first heard that a Twitter account associated with Microsoft Office 10: The Movie (?!) was telling people “New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre”, we figured it had to be fake. It was posted from iPhone/Mac client Tweetie, after all!

When we found out it was real, however, well… we didn’t know what to think. Lucky for us George Ponder from sibling site WMExperts has us covered:

The iPhone and the Pre are obviously smartphones, so it’s tempting to put the Zune Phone back into the rumor mix. Us, though, we’re remembering how strenuously Microsoft has denied rumors of being in the hardware business and of the Zune Phone specifically. So whatever it is, we’re not expecting a 180 on this one (but a 360, or more specifically something to do with Xbox 360, doesn’t seem crazy).

Xbox 360 is inarguably the only hardware and consumer electronics brand from Microsoft enjoying anything resembling brand success at the moment, so even we’ve been up on the idea of an XboxPhone. However, if past behavior is any indicator of future behavior, Microsoft will be releasing Premium Zune Services for Windows Phone Mobile Experiences Live! 7 sometime this summer, and iPhone owners likely won’t notice…

“Pink” iPhone Killers, from the folks who brought you “Blue Screens” and “Brown Zunes”. Mmm, taste that rainbow… Sigh. Maybe Pink is the XBoxPhone we’ve always dreamed of. Maybe it really is just a candy-coated Diamond 2 with pop-tart trademarks. Dunno. Nobody does. Giant mystery in puzzle pastry with enigma frosting. Until we know for sure, however, there’s no danger in speculating, is there?

WMExperts links to a Wall Street Journal story that makes it seem like something Microsoft and Verizon think could might possibly take on the iPhone with such killer features as “multimedia” and “App Store”.

Wow, never heard that one before.

(And really Verizon, you haven’t even gotten Apple to go out on a date with you yet and already you’re chatting up Microsoft? What happened to your “iPhone Killer” with Nokia…?)

Seriously, isn’t it time ya stopped skating to where the puck was?

Personally, I still think Microsoft’s only hope at this point is an XboxPhone, but what do I know, I don’t run the largest, richest, most talent-laden software company in the world… that runs itself, and everything it produces, into the ground due to paralyzing politics and committee. So, excuse me if I’m nonplussed by the rumors of a new Zune HD, which while not an iPhone clone, or even an iPod classic or nano clone, looks to be positioned exactly opposite the iPod touch. A strategy which has proven so successful for Microsoft thus far…

Dear Steve Ballmer: Please, scorch the earth, start from scratch. Stop worrying so much about Apple and Google and start investing in Microsoft. Start making wonderful experiences for customers all your own. Build an integrated ecosystem from the ground up where Server, Windows, Xbox Windows Phone, and Zune all share a single unified brand and delightful cross-compatibility. Take a lesson from Palm. Spend your years in the desert if you have to, but at least walk in a single, considered direction.

Kthxbai

[Via Engadget]