Microsoft's smartphone gets off to a bad start

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which is desperately trying to develop an alternative to the Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone, is going to need to come up with a better name.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has given the touch-screen multimedia cell phone that it's developing with Verizon Wireless the code-name "Pink." Details of the phone are almost as vague as its moniker.

As the Journal pointed out, "It would also likely include Microsoft's new Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a store for cellphone downloads along the lines of Apple's App Store. . ." Microsoft apparently is leaving the design to others.