Microsoft announces plans for Zune phone

Microsoft plans to release a Zune-based phone sometime in the future, according to Zune's general manager of global marketing, Chris Stephenson. The phone will be part of Microsoft's plans to expand into the digital music player market, although like the Zune itself, there were no details or timeline given for when to expect the Zune phone.

Microsoft, unlike Apple, doesn't seem to like keeping secrets about its plans to bust into the Apple-dominated digital music player market. Although there has been no official confirmation of the long-rumored "iPhone," Apple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer was quoted during an earnings conference call in July saying that "We don't think the phones that are available today make the best music players. We think the iPod is. But over time that's likely to change, and we aren't sitting around doing nothing." Apple's certainly not sitting around doing nothing according to some, who claim that the Apple phone is ready for production.

Without any details regarding either company's tight-lipped phone plans, it's hard to speculate whether one will trump the other or whether either of them will succeed at all. Apple's first foray into the phone business with the Motorola ROKR ended up being somewhat of a failure, and may have been due to Apple not having full control when working with Motorola in determining the phone's design and usability. Will the rumored Apple phone, when and if it ever happens, be able to put the ROKR out of its misery, and will the Zune phone be able to top it?