Looks like Microsoft is once again denying anything about a Zune phone. Quoting a Microsoft spokesperson: "we have no plans to create a Zune phone," which seems pretty open and shut.

Then again ... Assuming there is something in the works, it's not like they would confirm either.  And as NeoWin points out, they also denied ever making an MP3 player, too.

With the rumors flying high this week, especially with the USB reference codes found in the .inf file from the latest Zune software update, Microsoft is probably feeling some heat from their OEMs over the issue--don't forget, they are also very interested in the prospect/denial of such a device.  We can understand if they are nervous and causing some little waves with Redmond.

Regarding that Zune update, consensus seems to be swaying from an actual "Zune phone" to "these are plans to incorporate the Zune experience into Windows Mobile,"

Check out Paul Thurrott's piece over at WinSuperSite, which delves deeper into that issue as well as detailing the recent changes to the Zune software, it's a good read.

Oh Mobile World Congress, you can't come soon enough.  Please rescue us from ourselves.

[via NeoWin.net]

Whatever Microsoft is up to, they are sure up to something big.

Long Zheng (iStartedSomething) has taken a look-see at the update Zune desktop software, which just came out today.

Going through the .inf file (responsible for identifying the driver, associating the device with USB) he was able to find a few lines of code that, for the first time, specifically reference a phone.

In fact, there are three hardware Product IDs associated with the 'phone' class in addition the the three current Zune players (see above image).

Zheng also contemplates whether this is just part of a larger integration with Windows Mobile and his tentative conclusion is 'no' stating 

Whilst it is possible there might be system-wide Zune integration into Windows Mobile 7, this particular driver references specific hardware IDs that are locked to a vendor (Microsoft) and product which under USB body regulations cannot be masked, thus this has to be Microsoft devices. 

That's right folks, it looks like we are looking a three-pronged strategy from Microsoft:

• Zune phone (Project Pink)
• Seven ('Business Edition')
• Seven ('Media Edition')

The big question is what is the Zune phone built on?  We wouldn't be surprised if it's not WinCE based but something different, putting it outside the class of Windows Mobile devices.  

Does this lend more credence to the idea that the 'Zune phone' is targeted towards the younger crowd and will be released within the next two months as one analyst has claimed?  Maybe the "Project Pink is DOA" story was Microsoft doing its own spinning? Like we've said, next month will be real interesting and we'll be there to cover it...

[via iStartedSomething]

Sometimes you look so hard in the back alleys for leaks on something that you miss it when it's right in front of you.

In this case, lets flash back to October 2009 at the Microsoft San Francisco Dev Camp (we covered it here).  A traveling, nerdy roadshow, the Dev Camp was meant to get developers to attend presentations on programming and working with WM6.5 as well as a chance to meet with and ask questions members of the WinMo development team.

In other words, pretty technical and dry.  Unless some questions on Windows Mobile 7 and prospects of Zune phones get brought up...and answered.

Thanks to forum member Interframe, who watched the nearly 3 hr video, he caught some major gems that we all missed.

For example, at the 2hr mark, we get this exchange:

Q: (roughly translated): "So Steve Ballmer went out and recently said "Windows Mobile 6.1 wasn't what we wanted it to be, neither was 6.5", so with that in mind, when is 7 coming out?"
.....
(The WM7 developer added to what the others from the WM team had to say about the question)
.....
A: "I can give you a little inside information there Mike. I'm not gonna give you anymore than Loke gave you, but I can give you some context. My day job, is working on Windows Mobile 7. I own the calendar feature in fact. I had to try really really hard to convince my manager to let me come down here in San Fransisco and take a day off. All day long, working on 7, staying focused. Its on track (Ed. cough, cough)

The reason its been delayed and you haven't heard much about it is cause we had to go back to the drawing board with our strategy. Change things a little bit to be more competitive when we come out the door, so were not laughed at. We wanna make the same kind of impact the Zune HD made, if you look at Engadget and the blogosphere, people were very impressed with the Zune HD in many ways except for the lack of an app store.

We wanna put out something that we're all proud of, which is competitive on day one, we don't wanna wait any longer."

But there's more. 

• There won't be an OTA update feature in WM6.5 (which should be obvious at this point) but they are serious about it for WM7
• Definitely no Zune phone, but they are most certainly aware of trying to emulate that success with their new OS
• Better graphics support in the OS and for developers too

Read Interframe's word-for-word transcript here and check out the whole video here for yourself.  The video is chock full of little tid-bits and we encourage you folks to watch it from 1hr 58mins and forward for the Q&A.  Either way, next year, when we're all gawking at our WM7 calendar, I want you to think of "blue shirt guy".

(And note, in case that video disappears, we have the whole thing on our HDD ready to be re-posted).

So a day after a Wall Street Journal piece gets everyone in a tizzy over a possible Pink-Verizon Windows Mobile thing, Microsoft's coming out and denying the whole thing.

No Zune phone. No Microsoft phone. No way, no how, get over it.

It's certainly not the first time we've gone through its, and it likely won't be the last. But, hey, it's cool. We're still looking forward to Windows Mobile 6.5, and we've got high hopes for Windows Mobile 7.

Looks like the rumor of Microsoft bringing its own branded smartphone to Mobile World Congress has been squashed. What MS reportedly has done is create a "reference chassis" from which future devices would be made, including with the Nvidia Tegra chipsets.

Says ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley:

Think of what Microsoft is doing in phones as similar to what it has done in the PC market. Microsoft often develops reference implementations and encourages PC makers that they build PCs that adhere to a set of reference guidelines/specifications.

You can loosely tie that in to what has been said about there being fewer Windows Mobile smartphones in the future, and it's starting to make a little more sense. Want better and tighter phones running your operating system? Give the manufacturers something to work from. It also makes sense to assume that this has been done in the past and that these latest MS-branded smartphone rumors simply involve the next-gen reference chassis.