According to a tipster at Crunchgear.com our friends at Microsoft are hard at work on the Zune Phone. Of course they are just beginning development and we should not expect to see it until sometime next year but rumor has it we may be able to expect it in time for Holidays 2007 which seems kinda rushed to me but who knows how long they have been working on it anyway.
I’m excited about what a Zune phone will bring to the market and I’m hopeful they address some of the obviou8s issues with iPhone including storage capacity and pricing. I think $500 puts the iPhone outside of the reach of many consumers and I would like to see the Zune phone come in at a lesser price point. Of course the device will most likely pretty advanced and we won’t want it be cheap but Microsoft may be able to offset the cost with phone plans unlike Apple seems willing to do with their vendors. I think key to4 Zune success is getting more units out there and a Zune phone can sure help make it a more popular device.
CrunchGear » Blog Archive » Source: Microsoft Zune Phone In the Works
We’ve just received a sound tip that Microsoft is working on its very own phone to be branded under the Zune moniker. Our tipsters inform us that Microsoft execs are in meetings today hammering out details of the device and developing strategies and timescales for its release.Seeing as that the development has hardly started, little is known yet about the Zune Phone, but there are some details that seem solid thus far.
This is what we know:
It will be a smartphone that works homogeneously with the Zune marketplace. It will most likely not, however, run Windows Mobile. Rather it’ll make use of an interface similar to the current Zune, an interface that I consider among the best available on audio players—I’m sure it can transition to a phone easily.
Connectivity is the major concern of the device. It is said that it will be able to sync with the Xbox 360 and stream video from the system to the phone via a wireless data connection. This would be pivotal in Microsoft’s proliferation of its media ambitions. Not only does it already have millions of 360s in homes capable of downloading movies, it’d be able to distribute those videos directly to its phones. Cool stuff.
The other detail that seems certain at this point is that the device will, if things go as planned, be available for the ‘07 holiday season, which seems like a decent time line. That gives Microsoft about nine months to get everything together, an entirely possible feat.
With the Apple iPhone is set to drop in June, and the Microsoft Zune Phone near December, this year is gearing up to be highly prolific for the cellular industry. What effect do you all think this will have on the scheme of things? Who do you think will deliver a better product (and I don’t want “just because†answers)? Rational thought here, please.
This information is as definite as tips can be.
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Alfred @ ZuneMAX
I am the original Zune fan with my own Zune blog and forums online since July 2006