CrunchGear

As part of the Zune news yesterday, Microsoft announced that a Zune-branded phone was part of its upcoming Zune platform. Chris Stephenson, the general manager for marketing for the Zune, didn’t give any other details on the device.

This announcement is interesting, since Apple’s iPhone is supposedly coming in January ‘07, so this announcement could just be a “hey we’ve got something too”. Also, with Microsoft already having a phone platform - the Windows Mobile 5 OS - they’re sort of dividing their attention for their phones. Then again, we doubt the Zune Phone will have any kind of sophisticated OS on it, but rather just be a Zune with minimal phone features.

Microsoft says “Zune phone” part of future plan [Reuters]