Microsoft to unveil "Pink" cellphones next week

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft Corp. is expected to unveil a new line of cellphones early next week code-named "Pink," U.S. media reported Tuesday.

The move is seen as the company's attempt to gain traction in the growing market for young smartphone users.

The long-awaited Microsoft phones, to be manufactured by Japan's Sharp Corp., are expected to be stylish ones featuring touch screens and keyboards, and will represent an evolution of the "Sidekick" devices, which is popular with the youth market.

A Microsoft spokesman said the mobile phones will be sold by top U.S. mobile operator Verizon Wireless, adding that the phones will have a different name when the launch is officially announced.

The U.S. software giant plans to hold an event in San Francisco on April 12, said the spokesman, but declining to say what it would be about.

The phones will run software that resembles a new Microsoft mobile phone operating system due out later this year called Windows Phone 7.