Bernard

I'm a Microsoft enthusiast. I have built my own Media Center PC, I own a tablet PC, I've owned and given away Zune players, and I use a Verizon Trophy. I enjoy writing, speaking and shouting out to the world how awesome Microsoft and its products are.

On anniversary of KIN, still no Verizon Windows Phone

May 13, 2011 | By Bernard

On this day one year ago, the KIN One and Two by Microsoft/Danger/Sharp went on sale for Verizon Wireless, after years of rumors/leaks/delays on “Project Pink [and Purple]“. At the time both Microsoft and Verizon had a big marketing push for this “social phone”, and both companies seemed committed making this phone a success. From the get-go, though, this phone seemed destined to fail. Pundits were perplexed as to why Microsoft was investing in a second Windows Phone platform, and tech reviewers
slammed the app/game-lacking feature phone with a smartphone price/data plan.

Not two months had passed when suddenly (though unsurprisingly) Microsoft announced the phone’s discontinuation. Several rumors and insider information emerged on the souring of the Microsoft-Verizon relationship, including an ominous one claiming that “Microsoft [had] backed away from Verizon as a Windows Phone 7 launch partner”. Whether or not the non-availability of Windows Phone 7 on Verizon at launch was caused by the KIN fiasco, or whether it was more of Microsoft’s desire to focus on the global universality of GSM, is unknown. But it certainly did not help Microsoft that the nation’s largest (and most reliable) wireless carrier did not (and still has not) carry its new mobile platform.

Meanwhile at Verizon, Google has, like a parasite, completely invaded the company over this past year with Android handset after Android handset; a formula that must be working for them, with each new phone only offering a slight incremental improvement over the other. Then in February the Fruity Phone became available. The truth of the matter is, from a business/sales standpoint, Verizon feels like it doesn’t need the Windows Phone platform. Even their executives have publically admitted to it.

It does seem like we’ll be getting our Trophy sooner rather than later, though to many people it’s already been too long of a wait already. It will be interesting to see whether Verizon will treat Windows Phones as dismissively as have the other wireless carries, though with its obsession with Google and Apple it’s not hard to see them relegating Windows Phone to a corner, literally. Ironically, an even more watered down variant of KIN (ONEm and TWOm) is still being sold at Verizon.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen when any of KIN’s features will be ported to Windows Phone, and what that would look like. Last June, when Microsoft announced the discontinuation, they also said that the KIN team would be joining the Windows Phone team. At the time Microsoft was in the middle of finalizing the fall release of Windows Phone 7, and probably in the late planning phase of Mango. So far we’ve seen no indication of Loop, Spot, or Studio in either Microsoft statements or leaks of 7.5. Personally, I wouldn’t hold my breath for any of the KIN technologies in Mango; I mean, if it took the KIN team several years to develop them on their phones, I don’t think they could implement them in Windows Phone in just a couple of months. For some reason I think those technologies are so ambitious, that I don’t see them appearing any time before Windows Phone 8, especially if it’s Microsoft’s idea to fuse together the desktop and phone OSes. Can you imagine: KIN Studio coupled with Windows 8 History Vault coupled together with Mesh? Other people have.

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EXCLUSIVE: First pictures of Microsoft Store Los Angeles

May 4, 2011 | By Bernard

This morning Microsoft confirmed it will open its fourth Microsoft Store in Southern California, this time in the Los Angeles area. The store will be at the Westfield Century City shopping center, which is located in the Westside near Santa Monica, Culver City, and Beverly Hills. It will be close to two major university campuses: UCLA (which is 3 miles from the shopping center), and Loyola Marymount University (at 7 miles). The Westside is home to half a million people, according to the 2000 Census.

The store will be in a lot formerly occupied by an Origins Cosmetics store. It will be directly in front of one entrance to Bloomingdale’s and across from Pinkberry, meaning it will be subject to plenty of traffic like many of the other Microsoft Stores already in existence.

Westfield Century City is already home to a store from our good friends at Apple Computer. Ironically, that store is also located outside another entrance to Bloomingdale’s; the stores will be literally meters apart. This shopping center is also interestingly home to the Sony Store, a new retail concept by Sony that may replace the current chain of Sony Style stores. The Sony Store will be closer to the Microsoft Store than Apple; indeed, Sony sits right in between the Apple and Microsoft stores. A metaphor, perhaps…?

As seen by the pictures, as of today, Microsoft has not yet put up its “Coming Soon” sign, and when I took a peek between the locked double doors all I could see was construction equipment laying around, meaning there’s a bit of way to go before launch.

The Microsoft Stores are currently the only brick-and-mortar locations where one can try out and buy the unique and much-acclaimed Dell Venue Pro WP7 handset.

The Microsoft Store relative to the Sony Store From inside Bloomingdale's
The Microsoft Store in comparison with the Sony and Fruity Stores.

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Will Zune by any other name smell just as sweet? No.

February 16, 2011 | By Bernard

Recently there’s been talk of the future of the Zune brand in light of its absence in the Microsoft-Nokia partnership and MWC keynote announcements. The tech punditry here noticed that, when citing the Windows Phone ecosystem, Microsoft mentioned Office, Xbox Live and Bing, while seemingly purposefully neglecting Zune.

Thurrott claims that his sources say Microsoft is looking to phase out the Zune brand into Windows Live. Other people, including Zune MVPs, have reported and responded to this possibility. Microsoft for its part has come out with guns blazing denying any ‘killing’ of Zune services, and no doubt by Friday we’ll have a statement by the Zune Insiders on their podcast as well. Notice, however, that Microsoft’s statements have not addressed the real question; no one said anything about killing Zune services, the question is about rebranding, and that question so far, remains unanswered.

Continue reading →

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Windows Phone 7 survey

January 22, 2011 | By Bernard

Microsoft is conducting a survey for Windows Phone 7 users, as announced last night on their Windows Phone Twitter account. The link takes you to a survey site where it asks you if you currently own a Windows Phone device. If you select ‘No’, it asks you what current smartphone OS you use, what smartphones you’re considering, and what are the factors in determining your next phone purchase (as well as when you plan on making a purchase). If you select ‘Yes’, it asks you what version Windows Phone you have (7, 6.5, 6.x, 5.x, and curiously “Pre-Windows Phone 5″). If you select Windows Phone 7, it ask you how influential various WP7 features (like Hubs, “Smart Tiles”, Zune and Xbox Live) were to the purchase of your device. Finally, it has a field asking you what, if anything, would you change about WP7.

For all those of you complaining that Microsoft doesn’t have a venue for feedback about WP7, this is your chance to voice your opinion on your device, or tell Microsoft what they need to do to get you to buy a device (ahem, VERIZON!, ahem).

The survey can be found here.

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What’s in store for Zune this year?

September 1, 2010 | By Bernard

Today our Cupertino Colleagues are set to unveil their fall 2010 lineup of music and video devices and services, and as always, the tech gossip sites have run amok with rumors and speculation of what’s next for Apple’s biggest cash cows. At the end of the day, after all is said and done at One Infinite Loop, the collective eye of the tech world will shift to Microsoft for its response with its still-nascent yet commercially troubled Zune brand. Of course, this isn’t a normal year for Redmond & Co., as its set to launch its revamped Windows Phone OS to compete with the opulent beasts from Apple, Google, and Research In Motion. Given how Microsoft is set to focus so much on phone this fall, it can be safely deduced that there won’t be a hardware refresh to its (non-phone) Zune devices this year. Indeed, we might be seeing the end of Microsoft’s efforts in the MP3 player market, with Zune moving on as a service to phones, Xboxes, PCs, search engines, etc.

Given this context, what can we surmise will be Microsoft’s plans for the Zune brand as it relates to its Three Screens & Cloud strategy this year? Will abandoning its hardware MP3 player aspirations hurt its reputation, or will it free up resources to use in other areas? Can it ever topple our Fruity Opponent’s media ecosystem? As a first step, let’s take a look at what’s already known about Zune this year based on Microsoft’s demonstrations so far.

What We Know

Back in February in Barcelona, Microsoft made it a point to say that “every Windows Phone 7 will be a Zune.” Zune functionality, curiously, is not its own hub. Instead, it is part of the larger Music + Videos hub, which, as Microsoft also emphasized, will include third-party music & video services. Some of the services that have been announced include Pandora and Netflix streaming. Also on the device will be Zune Pass streaming over 3G, as well as Wi-Fi sync with your desktop computer when on your home network.

In terms of the software (which will be 4.7, and yes, the “7″ is for Windows Phone 7, as explained by skipdeez in Zune Insider Podcast #78), Zune will become the sync application for Windows Phone 7, handling music, pictures, video, and apps. According to Thurrott, one of the big changes to the software is distinguishing between purchased and DRM-free videos. It will also list all the videos you have ever purchased or rented from the Zune service, and, in his own words, “make them available [to stream] at any time, from any Zune compatible device.” That’s big.

On the Xbox front, at E3 Microsoft announced that starting this fall, Zune Pass streaming is coming to the Xbox 360. They also demoed a slick-looking Zune UI for Kinect.

What’s Been Leaked/Rumored

Microsoft has been keeping its Zune news close to the chest, but there have been some leaked information that they have not announced yet, and they are both related to Zune Pass.

First, back in late May, a Microsoft executive hinted that Zune Pass might be getting a price cut in the future to “better compete with Apple and RealNetworks.” It has also been rumored that Microsoft is looking to have tiered Zune Pass subscriptions, with the current one being called “Zune Pass Plus”, and a lower one, without the 10 free credits and only one device, at $5.

The second, more concrete rumor, came in mid-July, from a Briton who stumbled across a page on Zune.net that featured Zune Pass at £8.99 per month, approximately $14 USD. This bit of news was very brazenly denied by the Zune Insider podcast the week of the rumor. It doesn’t take a genius, however, to realize that Microsoft will need to bring the Marketplace and Pass available to international markets because, as they said at MWC, Zune will go wherever Windows Phone 7 goes.

What We Don’t Know/What We Wish

I’m sure our Zune wishlists differ widely, so I’d like to present you with my list of features I hope Microsoft will bring to Zune this fall. Some of them are obvious, others I think have wide popularity, and still others are a bit more far-fetched. One can only dream. Here we go:

Smart DJ on Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360, and Zune.net
Zune Video Pass.
Podcast downloading/streaming from device.
The return of music/picture sharing on the device.
Native audiobook support.
Remaining major studios for Marketplace (most obvious and also most unlikely: Disney, which is partly owned by Steve Jobs)
There hasn’t been a big Zune Social update in 2 years…Some of the things I wish they ported from the Zune social on Zune.net are personal top artists, followed artists, favorite songs, badges, top listeners to artists/albums, and the ability to comment on someone’s profile.
TV-out from Windows Phone 7 devices, in high-definition.
Lyrics. Already on Bing. My guess is that it will be a Zune Pass exclusive.
The ability to choose between 5-star rating and heart/broken heart rating.
On device, Genre can be navigated by album AND song.
Customize playlists and videos. Choose thumbnail for video, and choose either thumbnail or solid color for playlists.
On-device editing/updating of smart playlists.
Smart playlists may include songs in the Zune Marketplace if you have Zune Pass.
Mixview on device, TV-out and Xbox 360.
Bring together Windows Phone Live, Zune Social, KIN Studio, and Windows Live Mesh.

What are your wishes for Zune this fall?

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Facebook and mobile OS usage

August 26, 2010 | By Bernard

Yesterday Engadget reported that the Facebook for HypePhone app page listed 104 million monthly users for that app, which according to them is a puzzling number since apparently there are only 100 million iOS devices (HypePhone, HypeTouch, and HypePad) sold since June.

Well today Facebook got back to them, and clarified that the HypePhone app only has 44 million users. What does the 104M number mean, then? Well, apparently the app usage number would include friends who have either ‘Liked’ or commented on a Facebook post/picture/etc. done from that app. So if your friend posts a status or uploads a picture from the Facebook app on HypePhone and you comment on it from the web or your non-iPhone device or whatever, you will be counted as part of that 104 million.

The number, then, decreased from 104 million to 44 million for users of the HypePhone Facebook app. Therefore, the same can be said for other mobile OSes who have Facebook apps. BoycottBerry and Crapdroid have 60 million and 12 million users, respectively, according to their Facebook app pages. Given the new math, however, that number should be significantly lower.

And so we come to Windows Phone 7 and KIN, which have been getting a lot of press this summer on account of their supposed Facebook app usage numbers. As of this morning, WP7 has 10,895 users and KIN has 54,942 users listed on the Facebook app page. In particular, the KIN was the most intriguing of all, since it was supposedly adding users (and lots of them) even after it was discontinued. With Facebook’s clarification, though, we now know that these numbers are false, and should not be used as an indicator of mobile OS adoption.

Who knows, maybe Facebook will reverse their methods to count usage so that ONLY users who actually use the app are counted. I’d love to be able to construct a chart showing Windows Phone 7 usage increase over time once it’s released, showing it eventually surpass the Crapple HypePhone. One can only dream…

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Why there isn’t Device Stage for Zune

August 13, 2010 | By Bernard

Gangster of Awesome Matt Akers of the Zune software team explained in the latest episode of the Zune Insider podcast a question that’s been asked a lot about Zune and its relationship to Windows 7: why Zune players don’t have Device Stage capability.

I think it’s because we have specific software that powers our devices such that we don’t require a Device Stage-kind of page, right? So, Device Stage is really meant for devices, like let’s say like a [Sandisk] Sansa, or some sort of, like, you know, really, you know, obscure MP3 player that may not have its own software and may rely more on either Windows Media Player or just basic file transfer stuff. And so that way those companies can program their own Device Stage page to make it look like—light up and look cool and provide that kind of functionality.

Now, what I think you’re really, you know, I see what you’re saying, but at the same time, when you’ve got, like, full-fledged software made by us that takes care of those things than you really don’t need to do the Device Stage thing, right? Because we take care, I mean we’re like, you know, Device Stage on steroids with the Zune software, so I think that’s probably why we haven’t done that, but it would be interesting just to have some nice little thing that looks cool, and stuff. Although I can say that lately when I’ve been plugging in my, uh, Zune devices to Windows 7, and it installs a driver and pops up, it actually, the little icon looks like a Zune HD now. Which is really sweet, yeah.

There you have it. The Zune software is Device Stage on steroids. And it makes sense, right? The sync page on the Zune software goes beyond what Device Stage does by letting you view your media by type (music, pictures, video, podcasts, etc.), allowing you to link your device to your Windows Live ID, providing Sync Groups for easy and automatic media syncing, providing fine-grained syncing options for each media type (i.e. sync all, items I choose, manual), and a bar chart showing media usage, again by media type. The only Device Stage feature missing on the Zune software is a battery meter. As the Zune software expands to phones this fall (indeed it already powers the KIN devices), I think a battery meter (and ETA until 100% charge) will be more important than ever. I hope the Zune team is listening!

The Zune Insider podcast, hosted by Matt Akers (@skipdeez) and Jessica Zahn (@jetherealz) of the Zune team, comes out every Friday afternoon.

Coming this fall is also an official Windows Phone podcast, although no date or hosts have been confirmed yet.

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Microsoft continues to secretly update KIN

August 5, 2010 | By Bernard

Gone, but not forgotten, the Microsoft KIN received two small Twitter updates this week, proving once again that Microsoft isn’t leaving its 10,000 users out in the cold just yet.

The KIN Loop now shows pictures from picture links directly in the shell without having to open the browser. They also show up in the Online panorama of the Pictures/Camera app. I’ve seen this work for Twitpic, TweetPhoto and yfrog so far, not sure about other picture-sharing sites (though these are the most popular ones). What’s nice about this is that the picture displays full screen with pinch-to-zoom. Uploading your KIN pictures to Twitter via these sites, however, is still missing.
Some Twitter replies now show up on a tweet when you select it: If you select a tweet from someone you follow, and someone else you follow replies to that tweet, that reply will show up in the Comments feed. Interestingly, however, replies from people you don’t follow will not show up. And replying or retweeting tweets yourself is still missing.

The build number (2814.0) remains the same. That and other evidence from the KIN support forums leads me to believe that this is indeed the original build number from when they shipped, meaning they are adding these features without changing the build number. It also may help explain why Microsoft hasn’t publicly acknowledged (or denied) that they continue to update this phone, presumably because they would then have to explain when the meaningful, big update, is coming (if at all).

Another interesting thing to note here is that all the updates so far have focused on Twitter functionality. What’s interesting about that is that the developer builds of Windows Phone 7 we’ve seen so far have lacked Twitter functionality, even though Microsoft has promised it. I don’t want to read too much into it, but could it be that Microsoft is testing the Twitter functionality that will eventually go in WP7 in KIN? Obviously they are two very different platforms, but already we’ve seen Twitter contact-linking show up in KIN, even though Microsoft had been unsure about adding it to WP7. Like I said, I don’t want to read too much into it, but it seems to me like we may be seeing the effects of the former KIN team joining the WP7 team.

One last thing to note is that the KIN app user count on Facebook has been updated for August, and it now shows 10,500 users. July’s numbers were 9,705, meaning during the past month after KIN was discontinued, the KIN actually saw an increase of 800 users instead of a decline. My guess is that these numbers reflect Verizon’s efforts to liquidate KIN stock as much as possible over the last month, giving the phones at aggressive prices (wish the monthly fee would be at an ‘aggresive price’). I expect it all to go down from here, and in September there will most likely be a decrease of users.

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Official Windows Phone podcast coming soon

August 4, 2010 | By Bernard

According to a tweet from marketing manager Brian Seitz, Microsoft will soon launch one of its first marketing campaigns for this fall’s Windows Phone 7 launch. From the tweet:

tinkering with cool audio toys today. my office is getting a little over the top. Getting ready to launch the new Windows Phone podcast!

No word on the podcast’s launch date, its hosts, or the content/format. Brian worked previously for Zune marketing, where he recruited Matt Akers and Jessica Zahn from the Zune team to host the Zune Insider podcast after previous host Cesar Menendez was laid off as part of Microsoft’s job cuts in early 2009. He later became head of PR for Kin until its cancellation; from his tweet we can assume that he has joined the Windows Phone marketing team.

Here’s to hoping it can be as awesome, solid, and amazing as the ‘Insider podcast!

The tweet can be found here.

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Windows Phone 7 WILL have MicroSD support (and other tidbits from the UI Guide)

July 30, 2010 | By Bernard

As part of the Windows Phone 7 beta, the UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7 2.0 was released this week. This is a document that contains Microsoft’s user interface guidelines for developers when creating their apps for Windows Phone 7. It also details many of the built-in UI elements and features of WP7, and whether or not developers can interact with these elements and features within their applications.

This document would be otherwise nondescript if it weren’t for a couple of newsworthy items I’ve found while perusing it. Here are a couple of UI and feature notes we might not have heard before:

Start is always presented in portrait view.
There are 2 background colors (curiously denoted as ‘dark or light’ instead of ‘black and white’)
There are 10 accent colors: magenta, purple, teal, lime, brown, pink, orange, blue, red and green, plus one more color that hardware manufacturers or networks can add.
This makes for a maximum of 22 theme choices, counting the custom theme from manufacturers/networks.
The default theme is ‘dark on blue’, but manufacturers/networks can override this.
Microsoft recommends against using a white background because of the impact on battery life for devices that have OLED screens.
Hardware keyboards may not have a D-pad. They may have arrow keys that can change the position of the cursor, but this cannot be used to scroll or ‘move focus’ (i.e. tab). They also prohibit “any other navigation specific hardware”, which I take to mean no mouse support.
Developers have access to the FM radio tuner. Here’s to hoping we get an FM recording app!
Windows Phone 7 has no built-in handwriting recognition. There goes 10 years worth of Windows Mobile handwriting support!
“Microsoft will provide a control and design template to support building Panoramas at a later date.” So there you go, it’s coming.
Much like its Windows Vista/Windows 7 API, Microsoft includes text guidelines for its UI emphasizing correct capitalization, punctuation, and tone/voice. Get ready to go back to grammar school! Microsoft wants you to be “friendly” and not “angry” or “mechanical”. Reminds me of when Windows used to warn you of an “illegal operation”. The cops are coming!

And now for the biggest revelation of all in this UI guide. On the last page of this guide is a page titled ‘Miscellaneous’ saying:

“Windows Phone 7 has other hardware features available not previously mentioned, including:

Bluetooth

Camera flash

Camera LED

Micro SD

Micro USB

Wi-fi

All of these features have no direct UI components and developers will need to create custom UI elements if they need to represent them within their application” (emphasis mine)

It is possible that this is an erroneous statement, or that this is part of Microsoft’s future plans for WP7, and someone forgot to remove this mention. After all, if you take a look at the document you’ll see it wasn’t properly edited for wording (i.e. a couple of instances of “Windows Phone OS 7.0″). Indeed, the bottom of every page includes a disclaimer that “This is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases”. Still, perhaps things have changed since Barcelona in February, and we might see MicroSD support in the OS at launch after all. With the leaked Dell Lightning having a MicroSD slot, this is beginning to be not so far fetched…

Read more at the Windows Team Blog here.

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KIN gets minor Twitter update

July 22, 2010 | By Bernard

Microsoft has quietly updated its KIN phone software with minor functional changes to Twitter. No official changelog or acknowledgement has been provided by Microsoft at this time. So far I have noticed the following changes:

Twitter avatars now show up in the KIN Loop.
The way Twitter statuses appear when you select them has changed. They now appear similar to Facebook and Myspace statuses, complete with a comment form and feed. Nothing shows up in this feed, and if you comment using the form it posts to your Twitter feed but not as a Twitter reply.
Although you still cannot retweet, if your Twitter contacts retweet it will show up in the Loop.
If you select a Twitter contact you can now see their profile bio, i.e. website, about, hometown, nickname and real name.
You can now link Twitter contacts to your KIN contacts like Facebook/Myspace/Windows Live.
Not sure if you could do this before, but you can now pin Twitter contacts to your Favorites. If you select one that isn’t linked to any other contact, instead of giving you “Call, Text, Open” it will take you to their profile bio (see above).

The software version is 1.0 build 2814.0. I’ve not been able to find what the original ship build number was, for comparison purposes. It appears this update was solely Twitter-focused, as I’ve not been able to find any other changes in the system. Since I’ve just noticed this update in the last couple of hours I can’t really comment on whether performance has improved, but I’m guessing it has not.

Although KIN was discontinued earlier this month, Microsoft has indicated that updates are forthcoming, including one that adds the ability to Twitter reply/retweet and see more than 3 Facebook pictures at a time. There has also been talk of adding the much-talked-about calendar and social networking notifications. Earlier this week it was reported that Verizon was liquidating its KIN stock, either by sending the units back or offering a buy-one-get-one free. According to Facebook, KIN currently has 9,705 users.

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How Microsoft can make lemonade out of KIN

July 2, 2010 | By Bernard

KIN - Gone but not forgotten.

After this week’s abrupt but not totally unexpected discontinuation of KIN devices, the question now is how the Windows Phone 7 team can take advantage of the assets (and risks) they will be inheriting from the KIN team.

Although it’s probably too late for KIN to make any impact on this fall’s release of Windows Phone 7 (maybe that’s a good thing), here’s some things we can expect KIN to contribute to Windows Phone 7 in the future.

Loop, Spot and Studio

Obviously, you can bet that KIN’s three flagship features will probably make it onto WP7 in one form or another. Indeed, at the end of the day KIN, like many of Microsoft’s other properties, was more about software and services than about the hardware itself.

I cannot live without the Loop. Well, I’m exaggerating, but the fact of the matter is that the idea that your phone’s home screen should be a constantly-updating friend feed is genius, and I’m surprised no one thought about it before. (yes, I’ve heard of MOTOBLUR, but I cannot say I’m familiar enough with it to compare it to the KIN Loop). How the Loop paradigm can fit into Windows Phone 7, I am not sure. Microsoft is pretty committed to WP7’s Live Tiles as a home screen for it to face competition from the Loop, and it would complicate things if we had a third home screen (the other ones being Live Tiles and the app list). The most appropriate place for the Loop would likely be under the People hub. Indeed, many of the hubs already have miniaturized versions of the Loop in that they have “recently updated” panoramas of pictures, games, etc.

Continue reading →

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There Will Probably Be No Zune HD2

June 5, 2010 | By Bernard

The evidence is mounting against the release of a Zune HD2 from Microsoft this year.

Microsoft hasn’t announced either way whether there will be a new Zune HD. The only official public statement from Microsoft came from an interview Zune Project Manager Terry Farrell did with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley back in September 2009, where he confirmed that “there will be ‘at least one more generation of Zune media players’”.

Zune and other Microsoft bloggers have also speculated that there will be another Zune HD based on the fact that XNA 4.0 does not support the Zune HD, instead opting for Windows Phone 7 to build Xbox Live-aware games. They have deduced that there will be a future Zune coming in late 2010 that will have the same games and apps as Windows Phone 7. (Zuneboard and ZDNet)

However, Microsoft’s recent actions seem to indicate otherwise. The most telling evidence against the existence of a Zune HD2 is the 64GB Zune HD that went on sale. Back when Microsoft first announced and released the higher-capacity player on Zune Originals, many in the Zune community were left perplexed as to why Microsoft would release an update to their player when the Zune HD2 would be coming out later in the year. Now, Microsoft has announced via their Zune Insider podcast that the 64GB player will be released on Amazon.com on August 19th.

It was one thing to release a 64GB Zune HD back in April, but to release it on Amazon.com in late August, a date that is very close to what has historically been the release date for updated Zune players, indicates that Microsoft may have abandoned development for an update to the Zune HD. It does not make sense to make a $350 old-generation player available one month before you release a new generation player. Furthermore, if Microsoft was indeed releasing a new Zune HD this year, they would need to make an announcement sometime this summer in order to avoid leaks such as the mandatory FCC test reports. If that happened, Microsoft would be in a difficult situation defending its Amazon.com release. FYI: the first Zune HD was officially confirmed on 26 May of last year; they announced it earlier than usual that year because it had been leaked a month before on Engadget and Twitter .

One more thing to think about: Microsoft is committed to bringing a quality release for Windows Phone 7 this year, so they are bringing in people from different teams all over the company to make that happen. It is my guess that they have pulled in the Zune hardware team to help the phone manufacturers (HTC, LG, Samsung, etc.) build quality music phones, instead of making a device which has not sold well in the market. In other words, the Zune hardware team may have been told to abandon development for the Zune HD2 and focus their efforts on the higher-profile release of Windows Phone 7.

Like most information about Zune HD2 at this point, please take all of this with a grain of salt as it’s just speculation on the part of yours truly. Believe me, there would be nothing that would make me happier than the continuation of the Zune hardware line, but Microsoft’s actions so far seem to indicate otherwise. Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments as to whether you agree or disagree. I would be thrilled to be proven wrong, but I am confident I am right.

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