So, I keep finding more and more stories related to “iPod Like Devices” but nobody but myself seems to believe that the up and coming Microsoft Zune could have anything to do with it.
Microsoft came clean, today, and announced their portable media player device would be named the Microsoft Zune (rumored to be previously codenamed “Argo”). Could this be the device I thought was perhaps an iTunes videoconferencing unit? Slashdot recently ran an article talking about other mp3 players and their designs, and how Apple will stick with the “clickwheel.” I can’t find the link right now, but there was another story I had even submitted to Slashdot that mentioned a different design for the iPod that appeared to be crammed in a cell phone. But now I’m wondering if the sites and articles I have been finding, which discussed strange patents similar to something Apple would work on, were really preliminary Zune patents?
By way of patents, I’d like to remind people that Microsoft and Apple still have open patent sharing, as per a 1997 agreement wherein Microsoft bought around 150 million dollars worth of Apple’s stock. But that doesn’t really matter when Microsoft patented the iPod’s clickwheel first. The words “iPod Killer” have been floating around the web for over a year now – but will anyone finally do it? Doubtful.
I’ll be working on some news with my connection at Microsoft to see what the word is right now. Many of you won’t remember, or had no idea who I was at that time, but I was among the first to provide the web with pictures of Microsoft’s earliest “Tablet PC” running a Windows Whistler beta. I intend to do the same with anything relating to the Zune – so you’d better stay tuned.
Peace on ya,
-G