Zune Phones Hinted by Microsoft’s Software

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This is not the first time we’re talking about a Zune Phone and it won’t be the last time either. Microsoft failed to launch its own Zune Phone so far but it looks like Redmond can’t afford not to have a phone for itself anymore.

The company has been rumored for a while to launch a personal phone. Either a Zune or a Project Pink Phone, the device has never been made or at least it hasn’t been made public yet. Not only wasn’t the Zune the product that Microsoft expected it to be but the company didn’t actually have a mobile operating system dependable enough to launch its own phone.

But now Microsoft has a better Zune platform and the new Zune HD is definitely worth buying although it still can’t compete successfully against the iPod touch. And Microsoft has a new mobile OS in the works, Windows Mobile 7 which is said to be meaner than ever. Can we assume that a Zune phone could compete against the iPhone, the Motorola Droid, the Nexus One, the Palm Pre, the BlackBerry Bold 2 or the HTC HD2 if launched now??

Microsoft should better know some magic formulas in order to pull a stunt like that. Nevertheless some folks have discovered Zune Phone traces in a new software update released recently by Microsoft for the Zune. Version 4.2.202.0 has a “Zune.inf” file which will associate devices with the Zune driver. And it looks like inside that file there are traces of Zune Phones. Yes, that’s plural since there are three different IDs in the list which means that Microsoft might launch not one, not two, but three Zune phones.

In case Microsoft does want to launch its own phone, then maybe they should try to launch just one version of it. But a version that works properly from the beginning! Neither the iPhone nor the Google Nexus One met our initial expectations so Redmond announcing three new Windows Mobile 7-running Zune-based smartphones at once might not be the best of ideas.

MWC 2010 is right around the corner and in about two weeks we’re going to find out more details about Microsoft plans for the mobile business this year. Until then we won’t be able to confirm if any of these Zune Phones are going to become real anytime soon.