Last month MobileCrunch and TechCrunch reported on Steve Jobs very public release of the iPhone. Steve Balmer scoffed at the new phone calling it overpriced, but Microsoft may be offering its own mobile version.
CrunchGear has been following the leads closely and it has turned into a fairly solid story. Crunchgear reports that on Monday, Microsoft filed an application with the FCC for a wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. They go on to say the device is described as being used for “consumer broadband access and networking”. The device would use OFDM as its communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth.
The standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards of the future. In short, OFDM will enable more simultaneous data transfers across mobile towers. 4G itself is not a specific technology itself, but rather a collection of technologies and protocols that will provide even greater mobile bandwidth (100 Mbps (in cell-phone networks) to 1 Gbps (in local Wi-Fi networks). CrunchGear then connected the dots, noting that Sprint/Nextel announced its plans to build out a 4G network based on the IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMax standard, the same modulation protocol as the Microsoft device in the FCC filing. The Zune phone is suspected to run on the Sprint/Nextel network and could come out as soon as May, beating the iPhone’s release date.
Read more at CrunchGear.
[...] Anything Apple can do Microsoft want to do better. Notice, I said want to do - not can do. Via MobileCrunch comes news that potentially, the Zune might be heading down that phone route as well…. [...]
Pingback by mobileBlogr - Blogging Mobile Developments » Is The Zune To Become Next iPhone — February 10, 2007 @ 1:13 am
It’s exceptionally unlikely that MS would be able to get a mobile WiMax-based Zune phone out the door before the iPhone is commercially available. It’s far more likely that they would add a VoIP client to the existing device in the short term - there really aren’t any proven mobile WiMax device implementations to use as a starting point.
If they do get a WiMax device launched in Q2/Q3, it will probably look more like this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WRLRjKCGHek\
j
Comment by j — February 10, 2007 @ 11:22 am
[...] The Zune Phone That Might Be [...]
Pingback by Elderzhang » links for 2007-02-11 — February 11, 2007 @ 8:27 am
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Pingback by Comment on The Zune Phone That Might Be by Elderzhang » links for at Zune — February 11, 2007 @ 11:39 am
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Pingback by Comment on The Zune Phone That Might Be by Comment on The Zune Phone… at Zune — February 11, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
It looks like the phone is not to be, check out this Bill Gates interview, Newsweek did.
Zune phone: Fact or Fiction?
Comment by Cell Geek — February 12, 2007 @ 4:48 am
Scooped: http://yesihaveone.blogspot.com/2007/02/zphone-zune-phone-picture.html
Comment by Scooper — February 13, 2007 @ 7:45 am
Megadeth eh…
Symphony of Destruction eh…
Death, Destruction and a Zune phone… hehehe.
Comment by Pat — February 14, 2007 @ 4:10 am
um… buoni, realmente buoni luogo e molto utile;)
Comment by campioni — March 15, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
rick morales denver…
news…
Trackback by rick morales denver — October 30, 2007 @ 9:13 pm
disney cars audio cover…
news…
Trackback by disney cars audio cover — October 30, 2007 @ 9:14 pm