The rumor was apparently started last Friday by
TheInquirer, in
a story by Charlie Demerjian. Demerjian fingered
Nvidia's Tegra as the likely processor, because the graphics chip vendor has not promised Linux support for the chip, which represents its initial entry into the mobile applications processor market. Demerjian writes, "NV appears to have sold Linux out to get the MS flagship deal."
Opera Software, meanwhile, has promised a
port of its browser to Tegra. That suggests Nvidia may have broader market hopes for Tegra than just phones, since any Microsoft phone would presumably use its own recently updated
mobile Internet Explorer 6.
Like several bloggers who have commented on his post, Demerjian notes that a Microsoft phone would directly compete with phones sold by Microsoft's Windows Mobile customers. However, he suggests, it would not necessarily be the first time that Microsoft has done an end-run around customers.
The rumor dovetails neatly with
an earlier rumor suggesting that Microsoft could be at work on a secret new mobile phone operating system possibly codenamed "Kumo."
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