Microsoft Pink Turtle And Pure Phones Leak

Crystal ball, secret tunnel or loose-lipped mole; we don't know how Gizmodo are doing it, but hot on the heels of the Microsoft Courier dual-touchscreen tablet leak comes shots of Microsoft's two upcoming Pink cellphones.  The Microsoft Turtle (the squarish model) and Microsoft Pure (the more traditional handset) are both manufactured by Sharp and will be co-branded, and like the Sidekick – which Sharp also manufactured for Danger – will be targeted at a messaging-friendly youth market.

The two devices – and indeed the Pink project as a whole – are still unconfirmed by Microsoft themselves, but we've heard sporadic rumors and leaks about their development.  While full specifications are unknown, there has been talk of the handsets having access to Zune-style media services, potentially including ZunePass music subscriptions, as well as to an app store.

That app store could be an offshoot of the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, as the Turtle and Pure are said to be based on Windows Mobile 7.  While there's no release date among the leak, the degree to which the two phones "branding and identity" has been polished points to Microsoft being far along in their development cycle.  A launch in early 2010 has been mentioned, but since Windows 7 won't follow on until late in the year, we don't expect to see the phones on shelves at the same time.