Microsoft and Sharp appear set to launch their combined effort at lower-end, teen/20-something targeted phones known as Pink phones, possibly as early as this April.

Gizmodo recently reported that two of these Sharp-made and possibly Microsoft-branded phones, codenamed “Pure” and “Lion”have hit the FCC. Considering the recent re-branding of Windows Mobile 6.5-based Windows Phones to “Windows Phone Classic Edition”, I think it is likely that these will be the first Windows Phone Classic Edition devices we see.

One of Mary Jo’s readers who says he’s looked at the files on these devices says:

“Pure and Lion are the higher end devices for these right now. HVGA display, CE OS6, Silverlight, and Brand new. I am looking at 561 *.dll files that make up the 100MB ROM. A lot of center around Zune in the Registry.

“Looks like Home screen has different feeds,” the reader said. The Pink devices “will be provided with firmware updates OTA (over the air.”

Mary Jo wrote a great piece outlining the pros and cons of Microsoft launching a branded phone of their own – you should check it out.