ZunePhone Discussion Resurfaces Again
Last year, there was speculation about a possible combination of Zune and Windows Mobile development teams for a Zune smartphone. But Microsoft denied the rumors. Zune and Windows Mobile seemed to get different paths that unfortunately did not go nowhere nor yielding any more significant success.
But things have changed since with the acquisition of Danger, the maker of the popular Sidekick phone and the promotion of J. Allard, the VP of Zune and Xbox division to the Chef Experience Officer & Chief Technology Officer, for the Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes Zune, Xbox 360 and Windows Mobile. He is trying to answer to the following dilemma:
- You are a major multi-national software company keen to take a good slice of the smartphone market.
- You have a smartphone platform that you’ve been working away on for years, but despite your best efforts and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, it’s still struggling for popularity
- You also have a pocket media player device and software platform that is technically excellent but has failed to set the iPod-dominated world alight.
- You’ve also recently bought the only company that successfully licensed your mobile phone operating system and actually made it useable.
According to ITPro, Following Microsoft’s partner conference in the US last week, it seems the answer is clear – you combine all these elements together and make a smartphone based on the Zune software and user interface.
Sources close to the situation have confirmed that just such a device is in the works, which is great news as it would easily provide respectable competition to Apple’s iPhone.
I think, this would be the biggest challenge that James Allard will have for his new position. Go for it James!
[Via ITPro]
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