The first “Project Pink” murmurings began in 2008.  At the time, there was little consensus regarding this upcoming smartphone (or family of smartphones) other than A) the OS would be based on Windows Mobile and B) there would be some manner of Zune-inspired media software onboard.  In fact, the term “Zune Phone” was, for a short time, synonymous with “Project Pink.”

By early 2009, Pink faded to gray, and after CES 2009 yielded nothing but Zune Phone denials and an interim-version Windows Mobile announcement, there wasn’t much in the way of fresh Project Pink news.

But now, eight months later, the rumor mill is churning again.

Gizmodo recently posted renderings of two phones purportedly being baked in the Project Pink oven.  The phones, code-named “Turtle” (seen above) and “Pure” will supposedly be released under joint Microsoft and Sharp branding (Sharp has built several Sidekick phones for Danger, Inc., which Microsoft acquired in early 2008) and will be aimed at the same target market as T-Mobile’s Sidekick line (younger text, social networking and multimedia-heavy users).

Newly-posted information at MoDaCo gives us more in-depth speculation on Pink.  In a posting entitled “The Truth About Microsoft’s Project ‘Pink’” Turtle and Pure are said to run a variant of Windows Mobile 7, but with a Silverlight-based UI that looks little or nothing like WM.  Media software similar to that which runs on the Zune HD is also said to be included, as is XBox integration.  The post goes on to say that “Turtle” and “Pure” will feature 5MP and 8MP cameras, respectively, and include an unnamed “ground breaking” display that will “blow everyone away.”  Technology recovered from Roswell, perhaps?

None of this information can be confirmed; the newly-released images don’t include any solid evidence that they’re even related to any Microsoft project, though it’s certainly possible.  And if Pink handsets will run a variant of Windows Mobile 7, they will either have to ship in late 2010 or Microsoft plans to have the WM7 core finalized long before the first standard WinMo7 handset ships.

Irrespective of veracity, Pink watching is an interesting pastime, and I truly hope Microsoft has some fantastic mobile products planned for 2010.

They could really use some.