Bill Gates Says No Zune Phone

"we will concentrate solely on software"

First the Zune Phone’s on, then it’s off, then it’s on again, now it’s off? If you’re confused about this, read on…

Microsoft has been going back and forth on this for quite some time. Speculation started over a year ago when Microsoft said a Zune phone was definitely in the works. Chris Stephenson, GM for Zune, told the press in Sept. ‘06,

"A Zune phone is definitely part of the future of this brand."

All of that seemed to end with what Steve Ballmer said in April,

"It’s not a concept you’ll ever get from us. We’re in the Windows Mobile business. We can put Zune into Windows Mobile, we can put Xbox into Windows Mobile. We can pour everything in."

Then in September, it seemed Microsoft was flip-flopping again when Mindy Mount, chief financial officer of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division said,

"It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think at some point there might some integrated thing,"

Now Bill Gates rings in and says,

"No, we won’t do that. In the so-called smart phone business we will concentrate solely on software with our Windows Mobile program," Gates was quoted as saying in the interview published on Wednesday.
"We have partnerships with a lot of device manufacturers from Samsung to Motorola and this variety brings us significantly more than if we would make our own mobile phone,"

And that’s what we’ve seen in recent uncovered documents. Zune will be integrated into Windows Mobile 7. Let’s hope this is the end of the round-about ’cause I don’t know how much more of this I can take!