Project pink: is the first Windows Mobile 7 phone to be branded by Microsoft?

We'd almost given up hope on Windows Mobile 7 after it kept getting pushed back while interim versions filtered out with little to amaze us.

Then we hear that Windows Mobile 6 applications and games are likely to be incompatible with the new version, which does nothing to inspire much confidence in Microsoft's mobile game plan.

But now rumours are appearing that The Vole is taking a whole new stab at the smartphone market. It seems that the secretive Project Pink could finally be coming to fruition in the shape of a Zune-like super smartphone.

This will be the first handset to sport Windows Mobile 7 (assuming the rumours are true, and they often are with Microsoft's sieve-like secrecy) and looks to be very highly spec'd.

Offering 720p HD video and camera CCDs in excess of 5 megapixels, this is likely powered by one of the new mobile super-processors we've been hearing so much about lately. It also seems Microsoft is in talks with OEMs to launch its own branded phone, much as Google just did with the Nexus One.

That the new operating system is incompatible with the old one could be no bad thing, in the long run. A complete reboot of Microsoft's smartphone presence could tie the platform in intimately with desktop computers, the Zune platform and even the Xbox 360 - something WinMo 6 could never handle. If there's one thing Microsoft needs to do, it's unify its platforms.

We could be hearing something official within the next two month, with Microsoft expected to make an announcement at either the Mobile World Congress or CTIA, so watch this space.