So, yeah, Windows Mobile and Zune. In all the excitement over the Droid (and Pixi), Microsoft went and snuck in some new, competitive updates.

First, the iPod touch’s rival, and media darling, the Zune HD got a firmware update that enhanced the browser (though we still get shivers at any mention of IE6, mobile or otherwise) and paved the way for 3D gaming. (Check out the video, above). As with previous games, they’re free, but you might have to watch a 15-30 car commercial before the game (or calculator app) launches.

Second, Windows Mobile proper just saw the launch of Windows Marketplace for Mobile Phase II, including an on-phone update for the Marketplace App, and the ability to purchase apps right from a desktop PC browser. And, yeah, the new Marketplace security has reportedly already been cracked.

For the customization junkies, George at WMExperts has also run down some of the more popular UI layers currently available for WinMo, including manufacturers’ like HTC and Samsung, vendors’ like SPB and Vito, and, of course, Microsoft’s home grown.

So, anything Apple and the iPhone should be paying attention to? Any greener grass on Microsoft’s side of the road with these updates? Check out the links and let us know what you think.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Zune HD Adds 3D Games, Windows Marketplace for Mobile Goes Phase II, and the Many Faces of Windows Mobile — Mega Competition Roundup!

ZDnet is reporting that Microsoft has plans to port their Zune software over to other platforms… and that means rumors of Zune on iPhone.

“Zune is a music and video service from Microsoft. Period, Our next step is mobile phones, but we haven’t talked about a timeline for when that will happen.”

Just more proof that Microsoft is treating the Zune platform as software rather than hardware. Now, we don’t know about any of you, but we are highly doubtful you will ever see Zune content on any iPod or iPhone. But for all of you who are Mac owners and Zune faithful, this may be a good sign of things to come as sometime in the near future you may be able to sync your Zune with your Mac.

Then again how many of you actually own a Zune?

[Via ZDnet]

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Microsoft Porting Zune Software to Other Platforms — Maybe iPhone?

On the eve of Microsoft releasing its new Zune HD platform (the one targeted at competing with the iPod touch), Windows Super-siter, Paul Thurrott is reporting that the still nascent plain vanilla Zune platform (the one targeted at competing with the iPod touch and classic) is being abandoned. (Shades of PlaysForSure?)

Likewise, the Wall Street Journal breaks word that Microsoft’s general manager of Zune marketing, Chris Stephenson is also being discontinued, leaving to take a position at Universal’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records.

The Zune HD admittedly looks like a more-than-compelling competitor to the 2007 iPod touch (the 2009 model, well have to see), and has bloggers strangely enthused, but it’s curious Microsoft is cutting support for previous players at the same time. Though Apple also believes them to be a dwindling market, rumor has it we’ll see camera-sporting iPod nano and classic come next Wednesday.

Could this actually be a sign of Microsoft gaining some much-needed focus? And will the logical, and still denied, ZunePhone be next? (And what would that mean for current Windows Mobile ODMs?)

(We’re still hoping for an XboxPhone instead!)

[Via Daring Fireball]

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The Competition: Microsoft Discontinues Previous Zunes, Marketing Exec

Despite frequent, repeated denials from Microsoft that they aren’t making a Zune Phone to pit against Apple’s iPhone juggernaut, our sibling site WMExperts keeps compiling evidence that Microsoft might be doing just that.

The latest is that Pink (as it’s code-named) has an ad agency, will be based on Windows Mobile 7 but have it’s own proprietary UI layer, should be available next year-ish, and provide Zune, My Phone, and Windows Marketplace for Mobiles functionality.

So have Microsoft’s previous denials been based on crossed fingers and the “truthiness” of actually making a Zune HD Phone? Or as TiPb has been predicting, an Xbox Phone?

Let’s face it, Microsoft would be negligent and borderline daft not to integrate the technologies and leverage the brand of Xbox.

Oh, wait…

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The Competition: Microsoft “is so!” Making a Pink Zune Phone to Take on the iPhone?

BusinessWeek has an article up on Apple and Google considering app-sharing tools and — hold on, let’s deconstruct:

People like apps. “Tell a friend” buttons or, you know, actually physically showing someone a great app is difficult and far too real-world-contract requiring. However, Apple has iPhone 3.0 on the way, and with it — someone thinks they could enable something that might somehow enable and incentivize app sharing. And Google is considering enabling the same type of “recommendations”. Maybe.

Okay. Rewind.

Apps make a lot of money. Apps could make more money if not just the store or developers were selling them, but if users could push them to (at?) each other as well. Sound familiar? To the 5 of you reading who once owned Zunes, it probably does. Welcome to the Social. Just please don’t use the term “squirt”.

The theory is this. I love me some Peggle. I use a variation on iPhone 3.0’s P2P (peer-to-peer) connection technology to “share” Peggle with Leanna and Chris, who will then gobble it up, have tons of fun, and curse me for their loss of sleep time, likely in that order.

It’s not a crazy idea, even if Microsoft was already on to it years ago. iPhone 3.0 will already let you invite friends to join in multiplayer games. That could, theoretically, be extended to offer purchases for the game if they don’t already have it. Likewise, the BT-range limit could be extended to WiFi network or even cell provider (Oh, hi, AT&T infrastructure!)

To further promote the recommendations/sharing, Apple could — again theoretically — offer referral fees if/when the recommended/shared app is eventually converted into a sale. (Of course, the App Store, even under 3.0, doesn’t offer demos, so that would likely need to change first).

It’s an interesting idea at re-intermediating software sales. Microsoft is already “squirting” among Zune users, which makes sense given their very different, subscription-focused model. But the question is, with Apple being Apple, is it something they would do? Is it something they should?

And don’t be squirting no fart apps in our general directions! (Sorry, had to be said!)

[Thanks to the Reptile for the tip!]

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Don’t Call it “Squirting”! iPhone to get Social With App Sharing?

UPDATED: Shoulda stuck with our instincts. Fake. (via Engadget)

ORIGINAL: When we first heard that a Twitter account associated with Microsoft Office 10: The Movie (?!) was telling people “New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre”, we figured it had to be fake. It was posted from iPhone/Mac client Tweetie, after all!

When we found out it was real, however, well… we didn’t know what to think. Lucky for us George Ponder from sibling site WMExperts has us covered:

The iPhone and the Pre are obviously smartphones, so it’s tempting to put the Zune Phone back into the rumor mix. Us, though, we’re remembering how strenuously Microsoft has denied rumors of being in the hardware business and of the Zune Phone specifically. So whatever it is, we’re not expecting a 180 on this one (but a 360, or more specifically something to do with Xbox 360, doesn’t seem crazy).

Xbox 360 is inarguably the only hardware and consumer electronics brand from Microsoft enjoying anything resembling brand success at the moment, so even we’ve been up on the idea of an XboxPhone. However, if past behavior is any indicator of future behavior, Microsoft will be releasing Premium Zune Services for Windows Phone Mobile Experiences Live! 7 sometime this summer, and iPhone owners likely won’t notice…

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UPDATED: Attack of the iClones: Microsoft Office Movie + Twitter x ZunePhone = Huhbuwhat?!

Okay, if you buy an empty iPod Classic, have never owned a CD or bought a piece of music in your life, and are determine to immediately fill that 120GBs to the brim, then $30K iTunes will cost you.

However, if you’ve already got a sizable CD collection, or music collection of any kind — even your own compositions — or want to carry around class lectures or other forms of audio or — hey — video maybe, well, it can cost much, much less. Maybe even less than the $15 a month Microsoft would rather you cough up to them for a ZunePass subscription.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the subscription model. I don’t think it can hold a candle to the iPhone and iPod touches coup de grace — online streaming music for (pretty much) free — but for some users subscription is the way to go. (Especially now in the DRM-free world where Microsoft shutting down PlaysForSure didn’t threaten to destroy large and dearly-paid for music collections, right Microsoft?). What I am against is bland, ultimately not compelling advertising. Ars Technica lays it out:

As of November 2008, the Zune Pass allows its users to keep any 10 songs per month. In other words, if you wanted 30,000 songs for keeps, just like the iTunes Store, you would have to wait 250 years. The cost would be a whopping $45,000, however. In other words, it’s only really worth it if you’re OK with the fact that you have to keep paying the monthly fee to keep access to the songs that you don’t yet own. Otherwise, iTunes (or any other à la carte model) is the way to go.

And again, the iPhone and iPod touch (for which Microsoft has no competitive offering since they keep denying the ZunePhone and Zune HD is still vaporware) can do better, cheaper with free internet radio apps.

Unless you want an extra $15+ bill tacked onto your monthly services overhead?

(Thanks Matt for the tip!)

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Microsoft Says iTunes Costs $30K to Fill an iPod? Ars Says ZunePass Costs $45K!

Personally, I still think Microsoft’s only hope at this point is an XboxPhone, but what do I know, I don’t run the largest, richest, most talent-laden software company in the world… that runs itself, and everything it produces, into the ground due to paralyzing politics and committee. So, excuse me if I’m nonplussed by the rumors of a new Zune HD, which while not an iPhone clone, or even an iPod classic or nano clone, looks to be positioned exactly opposite the iPod touch. A strategy which has proven so successful for Microsoft thus far…

Dear Steve Ballmer: Please, scorch the earth, start from scratch. Stop worrying so much about Apple and Google and start investing in Microsoft. Start making wonderful experiences for customers all your own. Build an integrated ecosystem from the ground up where Server, Windows, Xbox Windows Phone, and Zune all share a single unified brand and delightful cross-compatibility. Take a lesson from Palm. Spend your years in the desert if you have to, but at least walk in a single, considered direction.

Kthxbai

[Via Engadget]

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Attack of the iClones: No ZunePhone but… ZunePod touch HD?

Steven Smith, infamous for actually buying a Zune has — Oh, wait… editor’s correcting me here… seems he… what? — actually buying a Zune and tattooing it’s irrelevant logo and nonsensical branding onto his body (seriously?) — has broken up with the derivative little mp3 player of his affection, and splashed the sordid aftermath all over the intertubes.

For Smith, the bottom line was lack of innovation, current and future, in the face of Apple and Sony, and more: Smith thinks Ballmer is getting ready to bail.

Yeahbuwhy are we covering this? It’s a warning people. Smith’s special form of… er… product enthusiasm may soon be coming our way. See, some non-briefed third party retailer slipped up and sold Smith an iPod Touch. Smith tells iPhoneSavior:

It’s super thin and does some really neat stuff like tilting to go into cover flow. I also like watching movies on it. I can go anywhere to get iPod accessories, that’s not the case with Zune stuff in Iowa.

Brilliant, salestard, that’s only one short step away from an iPhone! Sound red alert and prepare to duck and cover! It’s Switchpocolypse now-ish!

See Smith’s “it’s not me, it’s you” video after the break. (Warning, occasional language and fanboy heartache).

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DefCon 2: ZuneDude Gets iPod Touch!

[Note: This a a Wait-A-Thon post! Comment on this post -- or any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" -- for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card!]

Usually we wait for This Week in Smartphone Schadenfreude to mock review the competition (such as it is), but if they bring the hype, we’ll bring the satire, special-edition style.

Samsung, Nokia (yeah, I’d forgotten about them as well…), and RIM (and RIM) have already sent in their iClones, and now it’s HTCs turn to make mid-2008 look like early 2007 all over again… Ludites and gentlemen, the HTC Touch Diamond.

(At least I think it’s the Diamond, they’ve pre-announced like 100 different Touch trademarks lately, so it could be the Pro or the Cruise or even the Cubic Zirconium for all I can tell…)

Speaking of 2007, as we all know when Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld and pulled the iPhone from his pocket, it’s form factor was exactly like every other Palm, RIM, and WinMob device out there, with a tiny screen, application independent tic-tactile keyboard, always unstylish stylus, and and OS and interface straight out of 2001.

Wait, no it wasn’t. El Jobso unveiled a revolutionary new device with a giant, hi-res screen, multi-touch input, and an interface the likes of which the industry had never seen before. But they (and we) have certainly seen it since — reflected funhouse mirror-like in almost every signature device from every company released post-iPhone.

Read on!

Now HTC does deserve some orientation-sensing, hardware-accelerated props (assuming they cough up non-crippled drivers this time). According to WMExperts.com and HTC CMO John Wang, they’ve replaced Pocket IE with Opera (imagine Dell doing that with Firefox on the Windows desktop…), improved on the default virtual keyboard to the point of earning an official Engadget “messy”, and very wisely done everything they can to hide Windows Mobile, even though the device sports the latest, greatest (all things being relative) version 6.1. (And boy must that have the furniture flying around Ballmer’s tiny office…)

Instead, they’ve layered on custom interfaces to “Multi-Touch Cover Flow”… er… single “TouchFLO 3D” their way through photos, put little green numbered dots to count down emails on their envelop icons, and in a myriad other ways joined the “inspired by Apple in Cupertino” crowd. Still, it’s actually, you know, a decent interface, and the animation is borderline gorgeous (or it would be if the demo unit didn’t sport the responsiveness of a 386 running Vista).

Want to do anything more than the slicken-ing veneer allows, however, want to tweak a setting to access the fabled power of the platform, and its straight back to Windows Mobile 6.1.

Surprise, surprise, if you pile whip cream atop a turd sunday, all that shiny sweetness is meaningless the first time you dig in and really take a bite.

The eponymous touch screen is the old school, resistance type (oh, stylus, where art thou?) but the paltry (and already Apple abandoned) 4GB internal storage capacity is probably sufficient, what with Microsoft creating and abandoning user-unfriendly content services like MSN faster than you can say PlaysNoMore. And it’s a good thing since there isn’t much to watch on that beautiful, if cramped, 2.8″ VGA screen, given the positively tiny 900mAh battery guaranteed to last through a full day of absolutely no use anyway. (For the truly masochistic, of course, a micro-SD expansion will allow an extra moveable part to break and the comforting knowledge that all pressure data is safely stored on something the size of a pinky nail — no chance of losing that! UPDATE: turns I miss-spec’d myself — HTC to consumers: no SD expansion for you! 4GB is all you get!)

On the plus side, however, at least HTC didn’t copy the iPhone’s hardware design. Nope, this baby draws straight from the Zune! Want to zoom a photo, just swirl(?!) your finger around the squirle!

I get the feeling that when Steve Jobs said it would take the competition 5 years to catch up to the iPhone, he was being uncharacteristically generous. While spec-for-spec the HTC Touch Diamond offers a few huge leap ahead in pure smartphone power, it’s horribly out-dated OS, lack of interface innovation, and design straight out of Microsoft’s failed X-Mas 2007 music player book is still too little, too late.

Like Nokia, RIM, Palm, and pretty much every other device maker on the planet, HTC really needs to get in the game, and that doesn’t mean just trying to throw as many specs as possible at a device and hoping some cohesiveness sticks (it never, ever does), or out-innovating each other in iCloning the iPhone. It means having a unique, cohesive visual from the get go, and it means out-innovating Apple. Sadly, the only one proven capable of either these days is Apple. (Soon to be witnessed yet again when they drop the all-but-announced iPhone 3G later this year.)

[Digg link]

Will the Diamond pull folks away from the iPhone?

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Attack of the iClones: HTC Touch Diamond – Wait-a-Thon!