Will it be Zune Mobile or Zune phone?

December 17th, 2008 by Alfred @ Zune MAX

In all the talk about a Zune Phone there has been lots said about whether or not Microsoft would actually manufacture their own phone under the Zune brand and risk long standing partnerships with mobile partners like Motorola or if they would instead create a software application with Zune features on their existing Windows Mobile smartphones.

The idea has been that by creating a Zune phone they can still offer the Windows Mobile OS for other phone makers without directly. That never sounded like the plan to me especially after seeing how fast Microsoft bailed out on their PlaysForSure commitments. It’s obvious Microsoft does not have a problem backing out of something and with the gaining strength of Apple and the iPhone someone in Redmond needs to step up.

The article below was written by the original Zune fan, Matt Hickey with Cnet. He took the first picture of a Zune and has been following the Zune story as long as we have. His latest piece of Zune news is related to the mysterious Pink Project at Zune. The rumors have been all over the place on this but it definitely has something to do with Zune on mobile phones.

Will Zune do Windows Mobile? Looks likely | Crave - CNET

I live in Seattle. I run with the Microsoft/Amazon/Real/Whatever circle of geeks in the area. Sadly, because I’m a technology journalist, this means that when I run into them at parties they often have to clam up. I was, though, fortunate enough to have a sneak peek at a prototype Zune more than two years ago before anyone knew what it would look like or do. I was also lucky enough to snap a shot of it with my Treo. This became the first public photo of the device. It was black and white and wrapped in its own headphones, you might remember it. You could say I broke the Zune. I thus love the Zune. I pay close attention to what the Zune teams are doing. I listen to the Zune rumors. I have my ear to the Zune ground.

And I can tell you this: There will be a cellular communications device with Zune-like features in the near future.

I’m not sure if Microsoft will call it the “Zune phone” (unlikely), or if it’ll just be a device that interacts with the excellent Zune Marketplace (likely), or a combo of the two. I’d even expect something like “Windows Mobile, now with Zune!” or something to that effect.

Matt and some others have been debating this for sometime now. Zune phone rumors are as old as the Zune. Someone at MobilitySite.com sees what I envisioned long ago with a Zune Live Mesh. Two years ago and before any announcements were made. My original thought was that they would integrate Zune into the existing Xbox Live system and offer music with your games. I guess we’ll have that but it won’t necessarily be a mesh of Xbox and Zune but a triple threat with and improved version of Windows Mobile.This keeps in line with my ideas of Zune being the portable division of the “Live Anywhere Initiative”. Zune won’t just be about music but will include portable game and mobile phone devices with interoperability and information sharing a key component.

Not Zune Phone…Zune Mobile? | Mobility Site

I can’t help feeling there is some kind of Zune + Live Mesh convergence coming which will be a serious attack by MS on Apple’s iTunes citadel. Cloud based, DRM free music storage, accessed by any Windows based phone or Netbook or Zune device via Live Mesh. One media folder, one log on, one set of preferences. Add in The Social to create community and track preferences and playlists…always available, always synced, MP3 and video stored on the Cloud and streamed therefore freeing up precious device storage space. It certainly sounds compelling.

Zune Mobile as a set of mobile services and software applications seems expected from the worlds largest software company but is that all we can expect? Is Microsoft satisfied that 56 phone manufacturers using Windows Mobile software were unable to stop Apple and the iPhone from taking over as the leading smartphone? I have my doubts. I’m starting to think like Paul from WinSupersite does.

How to fix Windows Mobile - SuperSite Blog

Well. They are going to do that, sorry. I’d argue that Microsoft’s relationships with handset makers is, in fact, its biggest weakness in the mobile market. In fact, in looking over this article, I see lots of interesting information about Windows Mobile, but precious little in the way of good advice. Yes, Microsoft needs an online store. Duh. But no, they already get cloud computing, so that’s a silly non-starter. Microsoft needs to take control of its future in the smart phone market and it can’t do that unless it makes its own devices or its partner make serious, Apple-like concessions. Guess which one is more likely?

I think the best thing Microsoft could do in the phone market is to jump in feet first. They should leave Windows mobile as a business oriented operating systems for those manufacturers who want to run it but they should create a new user experience with their own devices under the Zune brand just like they did with PlaysForSure. If you look back it was the same situation except arguably now a much larger deal with the mobile phone market much more important to Microsoft than music. In the music game Microsoft was gaining no ground with bad partnerships and Apple was taking the lead with almost no competition. Now we have the exact same situation in the mobile phone market with Apple again taking the lead almost unchecked by a slew of Microsoft powered partners.

Is it Microsoft their software that’s lacking or the use of it? Well in this case it’s Windows Mobile and the lack of a touch interface that may be causing the most trouble but before the iPhone ever existed Microsoft was the better software and still only had a 13 or 14% market share. Why would they stick it out with 50 or more partners who are unable to grab more than 20% market share when they could just as easily make as much from selling their own branded phones and forget about the headaches of these partnerships. If you look at many of the phone manufacturers they are already moving towards other operating systems and Microsoft may end up the last user of their own software.

Maybe the best way for Microsoft to compete with Apple as a consumer electronics brand is to take them head on in the hardware market utilizing Apple’s own business model of proprietary hardware and software for everything but the PC which must be left open for the Windows cash cow to continue it’s flow.

Maybe Zune Mobile is a part of that attack and we can expect to see the mobile services described by Mary Jo at ZD Net. These premium mobile services would a first step in the right direction for Microsoft. they could leverage the strength of their existing services by combining them all under one umbrella service now while they continue development on the right devices to take it beyond. Zune Mobile may be a knee jerk reaction to the alarming success of the iPhone or a calculated move in a more serious and long term approach to the Apple problem Microsoft faces.