WASHINGTON?Microsoft plans to unveil a new line of cellphones next week with social-networking capabilities aimed at young consumers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

A Microsoft spokesman confirmed to AFP that the US software giant planned to hold an event in San Francisco on April 12 but declined to say what it would be about.

The Journal, however, quoted "people familiar with the matter" as saying that Microsoft plans to unveil new mobile phones manufactured by Japan's Sharp Corp.

It said Microsoft had designed the software, online services and hardware for the new mobile phones as part of a development project code-named "Pink."

It said the phones will be offered through a partnership with Verizon Wireless, the telephone carrier owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone.

The phones will initially only be available in the United States, the Journal said, but will eventually be available internationally.

The Journal said the phones will run software that resembles a new Microsoft mobile phone operating system due out later this year called Windows Phone 7.