In response to the Apple iPhone, Microsoft has announced it’s latest entry in the mobile devices arena, aptly named the Microsoft Phune. It comes in one colour, Executive Brown, a colour that has apparently sparked a copyright controversy with Mark Shuttleworth over its close resemblance to Human Brown (Shuttleworth arguing before a South African court that as Executives are a subset of Humans, he owns the copyright on Executive Brown).

Now, the Microsoft Phune is only in developmental stage, but based on previous Microsoft devices, here is an artist’s rendering:

Apparently, news of this device has Apple shitting bricks, and based on that mental image, here is an artist’s rendering:

Rumoured to be included the phone’s next-generation application suite are Microsoft Mortar (for firing off emails), Microsoft Wall (to keep out malware), and Microsoft Minesweeper (a game of unknown origins).

Microsoft CEO Steve “Chairmaster” Ballmer confirmed in an interview with MSNBC that the phone would be launched alongside a slew of fashionable accessories, such as the Microsoft Purse, which, Ballmer said, “Not only makes the Phune cool, but functions as a handy self-defence weapon as well. That’s what we call feature-complete. Right there. That’s it.” On an interesting side note, Microsoft Purse has an embedded processor that runs a program called Microsoft Tax, which extracts money from the purse on a regular and increasing basis.

The Microsoft Phune is expected to launch in December of 2007. No, February of 2008. Wait, June of 2008, and only to business. Hold on, December 2008 after a complete redesign and the addition of nine different shades of brown.

No tag for this post.