Tech Shout!

First the world gets the revolutionary iPhone; then come rumors of a Gphone and now possibly a zPhone! If rumors are to be believed, software giant Microsoft may start developing a mobile phone based on its Zune digital music player.

Yesterday, Mindy Mount, chief financial officer of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division made a statement regarding this saying that the concept of Microsoft producing a handset based on the Zune isn’t entirely unreasonable.

Interestingly, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer had said in a statement earlier this year that Zune phone is not a concept that Microsoft will ever do.

And why shouldn’t they! First Apple came out with its hugely successful iPod followed by the most hyped product in years- the iPhone.

Likewise, Microsoft who came up with its Zune, which was interestingly termed as an ‘iPod Killer’ long before its launch, could possibly venture into such a cross platform device as well.

Sadly all the pre-launch hype for the Zune media player did not go down well with anyone, as the digital audio player does not seem to have hit the right note with consumers.

However, Microsoft should most definitely dive head-first into this arena, considering the fact that Microsoft already has a good enough presence in the smartphone market with its Windows Mobile platform. In fact, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile business is growing so rapidly that the company expects to double sales over the next fiscal year.