Zune Phone release date coming soon

The Zune Phone looks one step closer with an announcement that Microsoft has filed with the FCC for a wireless device that allows voice communication over the internet. It’s the Zune Phone some say and I think they are probably right. They’ll probably do what they can to answer Apple with their top products and iPhone is a big one. Following them with their own phone is exactly what Microsoft needs to be working on right now and it seems they have been on it for some months now. If the timeline they used to bring the Zune to market says anything then we know Microsoft can get the Zune release date for Holiday 2007 easy.

Microsoft must have learned somethign with the Zune launch and should be able to elarn from theeir mistakes on that. A Zune Phone may be a more ambitious marketing campaign because of the heated competition iPhone is making. The Apple phone has grown out of proportion and to many are gaga over it. I expected more in the way of capacity at least but maybe it’ll be a better deal when the price drops considerably.

Microsoft files with FCC to test what may be Zune phone – MarketWatch

A filing that Microsoft Corp. submitted Monday to the Federal Communications Commission suggests the technology giant will likely add phone service to its line of hand-held media players, now known as Zunes.
According to the filing, Microsoft and other firms will submit for the agency’s approval a prototype of a wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. Apple Inc. made a similar filing, although chose a different technology, in advance of announcing its iPhone in January.

Microsofts 4G wireless smart internet phone

The Microsoft smartphone will use OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) whihc is the modulation scheme used in the 4G standards. According to Crunchgear this new phone should be cutting edge and fast. Let’s hope it works.

If this all fits together, it looks like MS is working on a mobile WiMax-enabled Zune Phone, which would have download speeds of up to 2Mbps, fast enough for the Xbox-to-Zune streaming we’ve heard about, and fast enough for just about anything else the Zune Phone might be used for.

On August 8th 2006 Sprint announced plans to build high-speed fourth-generation wireless network based on 802.16e mobile WiMAX. This would make them the first US Carrier investing in the new technology.

4G is all about lighting up devices, like portable game systems, digital still and video cameras, DVD and MP3 players, diagnostic devices and navigations systems and devices you probably don’t think about linking wirelessly to the Internet today,” explained Forsee

Will we ever see a Zune Phone?

Rumors of a Zune Phone have been circulating the Internet since before the Zune was introduced in November 2006. Many of us who knew about Zune before its public release date were talking about a Zune phone as well as Zune Game Players before we saw the first Zune. In the past two years we have seen a number of interesting developments in the Zune that lead everyone to believe that Microsoft has a Zune smartphone on the way.

Zune phone rumors got a kick start in September 2006 when Engadget reported on comments made by General Manager of Zune, Chris Stephenson who said a Zune phone was definitely part of the future of Zune.

Zune phone en route – Engadget

Zune, the music player; Zune the service; Zune, the software; Zune the lifestyle brand; Zune, the cellphone? The iPod beat Microsoft to the portable music device market by what, five years, so don’t be surprised that it doesn’t look like they’re going to let Apple off so easily on a cellphone — especially not while they’ve got a fighting chance. At a press conference today, Chris Stephenson, GM for Zune, told the press, “A Zune phone is definitely part of the future of this brand.”

Then in February 2007 Blake Robinson from CrunchGear got a hot tip that Zune phones were going to be released for holidays 2007. This story seemed to have some traction and was picked up by a load of tech websites because of the FCC filing that was said to show a Zune device soon to be released.

CrunchGear » Archive » Source: Microsoft Zune Phone In the Works

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.

These rumors were shot down instantly by the official Zune blog as rumor and speculation which they seem to do when things that are going to come true are discussed. I had the same thing happen when I wrote articles on user generated content on Zune.

Being shot down by Microsoft was not enough to snuff out these rumors and by this time we had a number of Zunephone videos on YouTube. When CrunchGear followed up with this article it looked like the Zune phone was a done deal and to be delivered in a few short months.

CrunchGear » Archive » Zune Phone Confirmed! Launch Scenario! 4G WiMax Action! Rumors Off the WTF-o-Meter

The first real news is that we can expect to hear an announcement from Redmond about it before March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, at which time we should learn the name of the device. At the same time, we should also learn other launch specifics, and here’s where it gets incredibly juicy; our source says that, pending FCC approval, the specter-like Zune Phone will hit the streets sometime in May, a full month before the iPhone.

Of course CrunchGear got it wrong and it looks like Engadget was on the ball with their analysis of the FCC filing. Microsoft was not going to be entering a collaboration with a number of companies on their own phone. It was all hype that in the end may have deflated the Zune phone rumors.

Debunk: Microsoft files for Zune phone with FCC — probably not – Engadget

There’s some buzz going around right now about a “Zune phone” filed with the FCC — we did a little extra digging, and we’re not really convinced that’s what’s at hand. We know a Zune phone is in the works, that much is abundantly clear, but what passed through the FCC was a pre-approval application document that ran down a list of questions the FCC had for a CE “coalition” consisting of Microsoft, Dell, Google, HP, Intel, Philips, who are apparently in on some device together. (Strike one. You really think Microsoft’s gonna collaborate on the Zune phone? And with that many non-cellphone carrier companies?)

All of this talk about a Zune phone led Patrick Altoft at Mad4MobilePhones to spend some time compiling a great document and possibly the strongest piece of evidence to date of a Zune phone with his article “12 Patents that define the Zune phone” which was soon followed up by more patents and other stuff Zune.

The idea of a Zune phone changed in April 2007 when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was quoted as saying a Zune phone was not in the works from Microsoft. What he said may actually have been more towards cell phone makers and users of Windows mobile software. Remember Microsoft dropped all of their partners in PlaysForSure when they released Zune and abandoned the initiative. Ballmers announcement was seen by many as a denial of the Zune phone but what it appears to mean is that they will not be getting into the business of building phones and they will instead work to port the Zune software to as line of devices from other manufacturers.

Zune phone? Ballmer says focus is Windows Mobile

“It’s not a concept you’ll ever get from us. We’re in the Windows Mobile business. We can put Zune into Windows Mobile, we can put Xbox into Windows Mobile. We can pour everything in. We wouldn’t define our phone experience just by music. A phone is really a general-purpose device. You want it to make telephone calls. You want to get and receive messages — text, e-mail, whatever your preference is. You may want music, you may want to play games, you may want to carry your contacts with you, and you may want to pay for things. I think we have to think about the phone instead of as a fixed-function device, a phone is really kind of a general purpose device that we need to have clean and easy to use.”