Microsoft's own branded smartphone may soon be upon us, at least according to one analyst.

"We expect Microsoft to debut its long-rumored 'Pink' phone within the next two months," Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert wrote in a Jan. 19 research note. "We believe the phone will be based on Windows Mobile 7, which has not yet been made generally available."

Egbert added that the device would likely make its debut at either February's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona or else at March's CTIA in Las Vegas. Furthermore, "We think Microsoft is partnering with a few OEM manufactures to create the Zune-like phone, which includes 720p HD video and at least a 5-megapixel camera." Windows Mobile 7 could include premium mobile services such as "a Zune video store and music subscription/purchasing ... [and] it could include social networking apps like Xbox Live, Facebook and Twitter."

Are you thinking there's a resemblance here, strategywise, to Google's recent entry into the smartphone market? Good, because so does Egbert: "We think the OEM partnerships will likely be similar to HTC and Google's partnership, which created the Google Nexus One phone."

Of course, the Nexus One presents a very low bar to hit, at least in terms of sales. During that device's first week, estimated mobile analytics company Flurry, the search engine giant managed to ship only 20,000 Nexus One units through its online store. For comparison's sake, Apple's iPhone 3GS sold 1.6 million units its first week, while the Motorola Droid managed to move a muscular 250,000 units.

Microsoft's Project Pink smartphone has been rumored for months, although the company has habitually refused to comment on the rumors to me or anyone else. Back in September, a piece of juicy scuttlebutt arose that Microsoft was planning on rolling out two slider phones early in 2010, respectively code-named Turtle and Pure.

The blogosphere at the time suggested that Microsoft was developing the smartphones in conjunction with Danger, which was acquired earlier in 2009 and incorporated into Microsoft's PMX (Premium Mobile Experiences) team.

Before that, back in April, Microsoft told reporters that it was "not going into the phone hardware business," after rumors erupted that it was developing a touch-screen smartphone in conjunction with Verizon.

And although pundits and bloggers throughout 2009 surmised that Project Pink might make an appearance at the January 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, no such devices were in sight at Microsoft's booth. However, Microsoft used that show to display a variety of smartphones running Mobile 6.5, which Redmond hopes will allow it to hold on to at least some of its eroding market share against Apple, Palm and other competitors.

Whether or not Egbert is right, we know that Microsoft will announce something at the Mobile World Congress. While some have suggested that Mobile 7 will make its debut at that conference, the thinking among many is that any smartphone OS on view will be Mobile 6.x.

If Microsoft did use the Mobile World Congress to debut a new smartphone, though, it would likely spark enough interest to (temporarily) quiet the buzz about Microsoft being destroyed in the mobile space. In any case, we shall see. Anyone want to take bets that a Project Pink smartphone would outsell the Nexus One in the first week?