We don’t wanna say we told you so, but, ya know, we did.
On Monday, Microsoft filed a mystery application with the FCC for an
enigmatic wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet.
Sounds like a VoiP device, right?
Not really. The device is described as being used for “consumer
broadband access and networking,” which doesn’t sound like vanilla VoIP
to me. Microsoft goes on to say that the device would use OFDM as its
communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth. Well, why not? The
standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a
modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards of the
future. But with wireless access gaining momentum, and the all-around
arms race for bandwidth, 4G starts to make sense, in a crazy, crazy
kind of way.
The idea of a next-gen, high-bandwidth capable phone sounded to
these ears like the Zune Phone, so we did some poking, called some
sources, and waded into the wonderful world of Zune. One thing led to
another, and we’ve determined that there is a whole lot more going on
at Bear Creek in Redmond than we figured.
With 3G on the rise, 4G is still the far future. With popular
providers like T-Mobile still struggling to put out their 3G networks,
anything beyond is sci-fi. A little digging, however, and we found this press release from August of last year,
in which Sprint/Nextel announced its plans to build out a 4G network
based on the IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMax standard. The 802.16 standards
use OFDM, the exact same modulation protocol as the Microsoft device in
the FCC filing.
Beginning to get the picture, yes?
If this all fits together, it looks like MS is working on a mobile
WiMax-enabled Zune Phone, which would have download speeds of up to
2Mbps, fast enough for the Xbox-to-Zune streaming we’ve heard about,
and fast enough for just about anything else the Zune Phone might be
used for.
So now that we know that the Zune Phone is real, and that it’s in development, what else can we say about it? Tons.
The first real news is that we can expect to hear an announcement from Redmond about it before
March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, at which time we should learn the name of
the device. At the same time, we should also learn other launch
specifics, and here’s where it gets incredibly juicy; our source says
that, pending FCC approval, the specter-like Zune Phone will hit the
streets sometime in May, a full month before the iPhone.
No, really.
Our source says that an iPhone competitor has been in the works for
a while, and the idea of branding it as part of the Zune ecosystem,
from the brown color through the interface, came as a recent decision
as a response to Apple’s iPhone. The source didn’t go into details
about features, as they don’t know specifics—they’re not yet all
finalized. But there is one thing our source says will not only
separate it from other music phones, but from iPhone as well.
Without a doubt, the biggest root of contention with the Zune users
isn’t the hardware (which is very good) or the marketplace (which is
likewise awesome), but the lack of other users to share music with. The
WiFi sharing capabilities were the unique feature that was supposed to
set the Zune apart, but unless you had another user in the area with
sharing turned on, it was wasted battery, even in airports or Midtown
Manhattan. (I’ve still yet to find a single person to share with. -
Blake)
The Zune Phone remedies this by allowing you to share music not via
WiFi, but via WiMax, so that anyone on your friends list who is online
can sample your music, and vice versa. By using the mobile WiMax
network, you can be in New York and your friend can be in San Jose and
you can send him that Shins song you like.
By taking the proximity limitations from an otherwise sound idea and
reversing them macro-syle, Microsoft opens up the Zune experience to
everyone, making the ecosystem reach from coast-to-coast. The Social,
as they say, goes national. We love the idea, as it really frames the
concept of portable social networking in a wide, wide light.
This is a lot of information, and the reader should keep in mind
that any part, if not all of it could change, as from what we know, the
Zune group is just being brought up to speed on the specifics of the
device. Our sources are saying that some of the hardware has been in
development for quite awhile, and that the idea of making it a Zune
device is relatively new.
With the iPhone having been in the rumors stage for almost two
years, it makes sense that MS would have started a response as a
contingency. Now that iPhone is out, and Redmond knows exactly what
it’s up against, it’s an relatively easier process to finish an
alternative, and bringing it to the Zune team and its Gen-Y marketing
is the icing on the cake.
Of course, much of this is conjecture, but it’s logical. What’s
more, our sources have never let us down and are from diverse
backgrounds involved with Zune from the get-go. This is a
well-thought-out response to iPhone, works perfectly with MSN Live
Spaces, as well as Xbox.
We’re not entirely sure yet how much of this is going to hit, but
it’s on our radar, and we’re guessing that now it’s on yours, too. Taken straight from CrunchGear.
Zune Phone hits FCC? [Market Watch]
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