No Zune Phone But Zune Touch Soon
SFGate recently interviewed Robbie Bach. This is the guy in charge of the Xbox, Zune, and Windows Mobile- all of those ultra competitive consumer devices. In this interview the question of whether or not we would see a Zune phone was brought up.
At first Robbie touts the fact that Windows Mobile devices will continue to outsell the iPhone and the Blackberry. But then he goes on to state that, “We don't make phones ourselves. We don't have any plans to make phones ourselves.” He goes on to explain that Windows Mobile is currently in the position to take advantage of their belief that, “…a phone is a very personal thing. Different people want different types of phones.”
While this rules out the possibility of a Zune branded phone, it may not rule out the Zune as a piece of software or service on a windows mobile device. When discussing the MP3 player market Robbie goes on to state that Microsoft has a broader goal not just including hardware but also software and services. He states that, “…software and services, at least in theory, can be used on a lot of different types of devices.” This I think is a ways off, but it does show the future of the Zune brand.
So what did he have to say about the Zune “Touch”?
While Robbie does not directly confirm the Zune touch he confirms it in a side step media interview way, allowing a proper unveiling when they are ready to officially announce it. “Take the device independent for a second and just assume that over time where there's a screen, touch will be part of it. It's not going to matter what the product line is. You're going to see it be a cornerstone of the work we do.” So it’s a statement of inevitability, almost as if you were to ask, “Are computers going to get faster?”. So when can you expect a touch screen Zune? Likely, right around the corner.
Comments
Beeman on June 8, 2008 4:39 PM
zune touch! wow I'm still waiting for the Cowon D3
Hypnorino on June 8, 2008 5:31 PM
Is that a mock-up?
Sam on June 8, 2008 7:35 PM
Amazing!
WestCoastPerspective on June 8, 2008 8:00 PM
Zune Touch, huh? Cool! I've always wanted to have a portable touch-sensitive device upon which to gaze at a beautifully-rendered, ultra-sharp BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. Finally, us Zune owners will be able to lock up in style.
lightsout565 on June 8, 2008 8:10 PM
i hope they up the screen resolution from 320x240. Do you think it'll be flash or hard drive?
nywytboy68 on June 8, 2008 9:06 PM
Good article but it only confirms 1 thing - with all the good choices coming available as of late will this just add to the confusion? And , even though MS is trying to stay competitive, will they FINALLY give the features and battery life consumers has come to expect from their devices? Custom EQ, 30-40 steps to keep volume more precise, a simple CLOCK!!! well, here's to wishful thinking. They ARE heading in the right direction - the inception of games and the 2.5 update prove it.
Eric on June 8, 2008 11:07 PM
maybe they'll put worhtwhile codecs on it....
hahaha...sometimes i say crazy things
Mike on June 9, 2008 12:21 AM
That looks like a really neat concept...I personally can't stand touch screens...but I can't wait till Friday..Zune is coming to Canada finally.
neonix on June 9, 2008 3:16 AM
Wondering how much storage they'll put in. Fash or HD.. hmmm... Also curious to see how much they rip off Apple..
Tim on June 9, 2008 6:07 AM
@ Neonix:
"...how much they rip off Apple..."
Why do you say that?
Are you an Apple fanboy or something? Are you the type of person who thinks that every touch screen mp3 player that comes out later then the ipod touch is a ipod rip off?
nywytboy68 on June 9, 2008 8:06 AM
@noenix: The TWIST interface is too sweet to even BOTHER to rip off Apple. When are some people going to realize that there's a complete WORLD outside the ipod franchise!!!
madve2 on June 9, 2008 12:31 PM
@nywytboy68: Well, it's sad to say, but every time I think of buying a successor to my Sony NW-HD5 (I have been doing this for almost a year) and start browsing the internet "what has the market got for me today?" I alway have to find out that there are sadly few devices over, say, 80 GB (while having a reasonable size and price); because it needs HDD, not flash. Even Creative abandoned HDD so what's left? The Zune 80 and the iPod Classic (and some big and expensive Archos bricks I don't feel to care about). And iPod has double the size. My point is: not only marketing makes iPod that successful... unbelivably they also seem to know better what the customers need.
madve2 on June 9, 2008 12:35 PM
(I mean, don't get me wrong, not every iPod product "knows better" what the customers need, but Apple strangely manages to meet some demands no other company does)
Machiventa on June 9, 2008 2:32 PM
enzo - is that a mock-up device or an early proto-type?
nywytboy68 on June 9, 2008 2:43 PM
@madve2: I OWN a few ipods (my wife uses 1, my 20yo son, my sis-in-law)so what is the point of your retort? Read what I said: "The TWIST interface is too sweet to even BOTHER to rip off Apple. When are some people going to realize that there's a complete WORLD outside the ipod franchise!!!". What does THAT have to do with the fact that I'm stating there's other products BESIDES the ipod. I'm making the point that MS has a unique UI and that there are OTHER players out there, that Apple is not the only product on the market, that MS doesn't NEED to rip off the ipod interface (which, is actually OWNED by Creative ;-0). If you believe yourself that they know what the customers "NEED" then why did you stoop so low to have purchased a Sony product? It IS inferior, is it not? since it's not an ipod, and they DO know better, why did you not succumb to the all knowing and ALL SEEING Apple?
I am not trying to insult you or start a flame war - I'm just wondering where you are coming from if you don't have an ipod yourself, thats all.
madve2 on June 9, 2008 4:03 PM
@nywytboy68: I'm sorry if you felt my comment a retort, I didn't want to be insulting nor did I want to praise Apple or anything. You are right, I bought a Sony product back then, and I still like it: it has very good sound quality and battery life, it's compact and blah blah blah AND it's capacity is 20GB! Even iPods didn't have much more back then (there was a 40GB version, but it was very expensive, to my recollection).
But that's exactly what I'm talking about: I wanted an MP3 player, I had certain needs, and I there were plenty of players to choose from. In 2008, 3 years later, I want an MP3 player, I have certain needs AND I have to choose from Zune and iPod... now why don't the other companies "dare" to release their HDD players too (especially Creative with such a great - but sadly old - player like the Vision:M), that's a big misery for me. I didn't mean to say any of the players I mentioned are better or worse -- I obviously have several reasons to not want to buy an iPod (I don't like it's UI, for example =)), but I didn't want to talk about that -- only about the choice itself. I wanted to comment on the current product palette: that's one thing that Apple done right.
Hope I was clearer this time, sorry for my previous "attempt" =)
helpme123 on June 9, 2008 4:52 PM
this is awesome!
cheapkid on June 9, 2008 5:22 PM
How long will we have to wait?
WestCoastPerspective on June 10, 2008 12:58 AM
How does 2012 sound?
Flavio on June 10, 2008 9:05 PM
did you guys have it in hands?
nywytboy68 on June 11, 2008 7:41 AM
Damn you Enzo,............ my life will never be the same now that I know it a FAKE!!! Gotta' love a good 1 though :-0!!!
Rabbit on June 12, 2008 9:27 PM
wow a zune touch huh sounds great but it copies Apple by far lol. how about something Apple doesnt have now that would be even better. well it sounds like a great idea and all and would make zune a little better considerning the zune 30 isnt really muck. i own one and there ok i wish i would have gotten a zune 80 for the touch pad cus clicking buttons sucks lol but its all good. hope this works out. also when is this ganna happen??? keep us zune holders updated. also the zune 30 originals need more stuff not much you can do with them ya know lol thx peace.
Quilly G on June 16, 2008 10:37 PM
that Zune iz Dope i would literally throw my 30 iPod away for that betta yet i would make one of those video where i would be tossin my ipod towards things such as the yellow lines in the street and watching it get run ova numerously
Stefan on June 17, 2008 7:06 PM
I'd love to see a Zune product do something outside the iPod Touch specs. Maybe a hard drive based player... I'm not sure but I am sure that simply rehashing the iPod models will not move the brand ahead.
scotty on June 17, 2008 7:55 PM
Looks AMAZING I LOVE THE ZUNE :D:D I CANT WAIT i really hope they add a web browser!
Quilly G on June 18, 2008 8:12 PM
this would be hot but they would have to stay away from an 8gig version they should make a 30gig and a 60gig web browser that you can listen to music while using or you can listen to music on things such as a myspace page or imeem
If they made this Zune just like how i explained they will take most of apples customers
if i was to come up with a price it would be 259.99 for the 30gig and 359.99 for 60gig
thats pretty nice seein how an 8gig ipod touch iz 259.99
aa on June 19, 2008 3:17 AM
zune=crap
Previous zune suck so this one too .Touch pad won't change a thing.
cant play divx,xvid,mpeg files
media require conversion.Big hdd is nice that is the only one good thing about zune.
I stick with cowon and creative products.
thewindsurfguy on June 25, 2008 1:07 PM
This looks pretty cool...but to the people wondering if its HD or flash...i highly doubt they could fit a hard drive into a player that thin...i could be wrong but i'm just saying...
Gnathonic on June 29, 2008 4:11 PM
I can hardly see MS making the same mistake that Apple made with the ipod (I hate saying that name) "Touch. The thing is obviously a movie player why did they not make it with the memory needed to hold movies. It was hardly big enough to hold ones music collection. I don't expect the Zune "Touch" to be made w/o a hard drive version... they may make a flash but I'd like to say that they will not. It is designed with the screen in mind and thus encourages it's use as a movie device. It should have the capacity to hold more than 10 movies (unlike its competitor).
*movies are assumed to be 2 hour films encoded such that they look good but are not bloated.
Cylon Jason on July 1, 2008 3:04 AM
“We don't make phones ourselves. We don't have any plans to make phones ourselves.” Does this mean that a Zune phone is out of the question? They themselves don't make and do not have any plans to make a phone, but this doesn't mean someone can't make the phone for them. Apple does not "make" the iphone.
Sounds like the door is open for a Zunephone if you ask me.
danny on July 3, 2008 1:10 PM
Wow that look so cool but it better have cool Thing on it like to get on web and some neat thing like ipod touch
Ron on July 9, 2008 9:54 PM
howd u get those pics? but if it has actual Wi-Fi then its min cause i loved the zune 80 gig and if tis has the same quality then it will be a good mp3 player.....
T045T on July 21, 2008 4:12 AM
Wow, now the only thing that's missing is to sell them in Europe...
I bought a Toshiba Gigabeat S60 about 18 months ago, which is basically the Zune 30 minus Wifi and MS branding, a 60GB hard drive and cheaper, and I'm still happy with it, but I find myself drooling over the new Zunes every time I see them.
It's just unbelievable how smooth that interface is - Out of the players I've seen, only the iPods come close, but then they don't have the tactile buttons for when you need them. And the Zune Originals are just amazing...
Anyway, if they did make an HDD-based Zune "touch" (that's very likely not what they're gonna call it if they have any sense), honestly, I'd be all over it.
But I wouldn't really hold my breath for any kind of web browser unless they somehow manage to tie in Opera. I mean, have you tried using IE mobile?
Shane on July 21, 2008 4:11 PM
Dude, Fuck apple, fuck The "iPod"
apple has NEVER put anything good out, and dont you Steve Job Ball suckers say"What about the Macbook Air!?!?!"
That sucks ass to, the thing is to damn flimsy!!! Plus its a fuckin Mac, Those suck within themselves,
Microsoft is Beast, Zune Upped that, And they will continue to outdo their competitors.
Matt on July 23, 2008 9:06 PM
Yea seriously fuck apple they are nothing special at all.I have an ipod and its like my 8th one ive gotten them all before the first gen Zune but now im looking for a new mp3 player and the Zune is deff it.ipods are trashy and scratch 10 minutes after you take them out of the box.Im no Microsoft fan boy(typing this on ubuntu linux right now lol) but they have went to another world with the Zune it seriouslly is kick ass stuff. All you apple fan boys out there need to stfu saying how every company besides apple that had hardware that has a touch screen and plays music stole there idea from apple..seriouslly apple made the iphone does that mean they stole the fcking idea of the phone?exactly...check out the url...anything but ipod haha..also at least the zune allows firm updates SO YOU CAN HAVE THE LATEST SOFTWARE...i dont see apple doing that with 1 year pre coverflow ipods..cover flow is crap anyway zune twist interface blows it out of the water.im not trying to start a forum war here but geesh bro's..when this touch zune come out my money says it will be less then the ipod touch cause every zune has been less then the ipod...apple needs some more competion..so all i have to say is fck apple.and eh to microsoft start building a better OS..lol...and yea i know there are some kinks that need worked out but lets compare first gen zune to first gen video ipod.....exactly...im deff pre ordering one of the next gen zunes...good mockup btw
:] just my two cents
NiKO M. on August 8, 2008 12:20 AM
i REALLY DONT APPRiCHiATE PEOPLE SAYiNG "iF ZUNE DOES COME OUT W/ A TOUCH MP3, THATZ A APPLE iPOD TOUCH COPY." NO THATZ A FiB, ACCUALLY SAMSUNG WAZ THE FiRST COMPANY TO iNVENT ANY MP3 PLAYER "TOUCH" iT CAME OUT iN THE LATE 2005, BEFORE THAT THEY HAD HEWLETT-PACKERD TOUCH SCREEN COMPUTERS iN 2000. AT THE MOMENT i OWN A REALLY OLD EMAC APPLE COMPUTER, && PERSONALLY i PREFER ANYTHiNG WiNDOWS. BECAUSE THE OCONOMY, iZ SO BAD, i DONT HAVE TiME TO SPEND AN ARM && A LEG FOR AN iPOD TOUCH THAT WONT LAST ME 4-YEARS. i OWN A ZUNE 30, && i GOT MiNE FALL OF 2007. iM VERY HAPPY WiTH MY ZUNE. iT JUSS TURNED 1-YEAR-OLD, BUT iF ZUNE DOES COME OUT WiTH A TOUCH MP3 PLAYER, BEiLIVE ME i WiLL UPGRADE!