Microsoft's Thing that is "Not a Zune Phone"

Microsoft, who released the minimally successful Zune mp3 player about a year ago, had dropped a few hints about a Zune phone. A recent USA Today interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, however, clarified just exactly what was meant by this. Rather than creating a Zune phone, an obvious knockoff of the iPhone, Microsoft plans to create a Windows Mobile phone, which, among other things, would likely have Zune capabilities, making it a slightly different twist on Apple's idea.

A Zune phone is "not a concept you'll ever get from us," Ballmer said. "We're in the Windows Mobile business. "We can put Zune into Windows Mobile," he continued. "We can pour everything in." Apparently the sort of thing he's talking about would be a bit more along the lines of a BlackBerry, a web enabled phone with advanced features, among them multimedia capabilities. Unlike the BlackBerry, though, this product would likely be targeted at a younger, more hip audience, if the iPhone and the original Zune are any example. Ballmer even hinted that Xbox capabilities might even be included in this new phone, although exactly what that would mean is unclear.

Once again, Apple seems to be leading the way, and destroying the competition in the process. As soon as Apple introduced the idea of the iPhone, an effective combination of a smartphone and an mp3 player, many other companies jumped into the race. Verizon released the minimally useful Chocolate mp3 player phone, Meizu announced plans for a gadget virtually identical to the iPhone, and now Microsoft is essentially doing the same thing. This pattern seems familiar. When Apple first introduced the iPod, about five years ago, it soundly destroyed the competition. Although various other mp3 players are now on the market, none of them really show much originality, and all of them are essentially low cost generic iPods. You'd think that companies would have learned since then, and tried to come up with something somewhat different, something that could be introduced as a competitor rather than a "me too" product. Perhaps that's what Microsoft is playing at when it talks about Windows Mobile rather than Zune, but they still aren't distinctly setting their product apart from the iPhone.

Regardless of what happens, I eagerly await the day I can own a gadget that can play music and take phone calls.

Sources:

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/114430.asp

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/25/steve-ballmer-comments-on-potential-zune-phone/