Microsoft is to announce that they will be ending their Zune MP3 product line. It is hardly surprising, as many manufacturers have stumbled and failed to conquer the iPod supremacy. Apple has dominated the handheld electronic space with the iPod almost since its creation.
Microsoft I think is caught between a cellphone and cover and wants to focus on their mobile presence. Nokia would want their partner to put massive resources into Windows Phone 7 to ensure that they both succeed. I would not be surprised to see certain elements from the Zune being put in the Phone 7 software. Zune software lets customers buy songs and movies, as well as pay a monthly fee to stream unlimited music, which could differentiate them from any other mobile software manufacturer.
Microsoft launched the Zune family in 2006 at the height of music centric devices. In 2009, Microsoft split the Zune team into software and hardware groups, letting the software developers focus more on other platforms, such as phones, the Xbox video-game console and personal computers. The company touted the Zune software as a key feature in its redesigned Windows mobile-phone operating system. The pressure is on the Redmond based company to create products that consumers want. As far as I can see there are more and more signals that lead to Xbox playing the knight in shining armour for Microsoft.
