Wow, Engadet and Gizmodo have both reported that after denying to their-blue-in-the-face that they weren't interested in releasing it's own smartphone, it appears that Microsoft is in the process of actually doing just that!
A Microsoft's Office Twitter account ran several interesting tweets that stated:
"June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers", and then a real surprise tweet stated: "New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone\Pre. "
Well, I don't know how anyone could interpret that any other way then Microsoft is, in fact, planning to come out with their own branded Zune smartphone of some-kind!
Even though it sounds that way, as Gizmodo pointed out, it's leaves some doubts, especially considering that these tweets are being posted through Tweetie, a Mac client. Infact, in an update Gizmodo stated the following:
"This Twitter account is link to from the OfficetheMovie website, but at best that makes the Twitter account the official mouthpiece of a part of the marketing team for a Microsoft product with little-to-no relation to the Zune project, not an infallible voice of the Zune division, much less the company as a whole. It'll be interesting to see how this is dealt with when Redmond wakes up. [Neowin]"
So, is Microsoft, or is it not, going to introduce a new Zune HD smartphone? Hell if I know, but it wouldn't surprise me one itty-little bit. Microsoft denied that it would ever produce an iPod competitor, but they none-the-less introduced the Zune so nothing surprises me here.
I, like many others, am dying to see what any Zune smartphone would look like and what it would entail in features, but until June, well, like everybody else I guess I will just have to wait it out. However, it's the statement that one should put off buying either the iPhone or the Pre that has especially peeked my curiosity. Could any Zune HD smartphone really be that good that we should put off buying a Pre or iPhone? Personally, I just can't imagine how anyone could top either one of those phones, but you never know and it's that not knowing that will drive tech bloggers, myself include, nuts until we find out more info.
If any ZunePhone is anything like the present Zune player, it should be nice and all, but I doubt if it will be any real iPhone or Pre killer. It will offer more and stiffer competition for sure, and it should make for some interesting times, but until or unless we can find out more info, then I will take all of this as more of a rumor than a fact.
So, will Apple and Palm have anything to worry about, and can a Zune smartphone really outsmart the iPhone and the Pre? Maybe? Maybe not? We shall, as I have already stated, just have to wait and see. It's that waiting part, however, that is killing me!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Illustration via: Engadget
UPDATE: Apparently the whole Tweet was not from Microsoft's Office/Movie site, but just a deliberate hoax that was created to get attention to an article about iPhone piracy, as the source of the hoax states here.
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