Microsoft Office 2007 Key Microsoft Zune HD Going

On September fifteen, Microsoft and its retail partners started selling the Zune High definition in the U.S. A lot of web-sites have hands-on reviews, photographs and function details in regards to the players and the accompanying Zune 4.0 software over and above what;s currently leaked towards the Internet over the past couple of months.
I have been a lot more curious about how the Zune fits into Microsoft;s product and services technique. Right here;s what I discovered from chatting with Terry Farrell, Senior Task Manager for your Zune.
To Microsoft, the Zune is far more than a media player, Farrell stated. Microsoft is fully conscious that, at present, the Zune is definitely an MP3 player “with a few million, highly engaged customers,” in Farrell;s words. Microsoft execs have been saying — ever since the company split the Zune team in two and sent the software program folks to work with the MediaRoom IPTV folks — that Zune;s future is all about software program and companies.
See also: ##############: A closer look at Microsoft;s Zune 4.0 music software
##############: Custom-etched designs available for Zune Hd Farrell confirmed there will be “at least” one a lot more generation of Zune media players. Past that,Microsoft Office 2007 Key, who knows? The way the market is moving, dedicated MP3 gamers look to be on their way out, with users preferring to buy, play and consume their audio and video on phones and/or other devices, he said.
“The bigger story,” Farrell contended, “is about how it (the Zune) is helping us build a new entertainment brand for Microsoft. Among the core pieces of this brand are the Zune High definition, MSN and Windows Media Center. The idea is to provide a set of unifying providers — the same video service/same catalog — across all of these devices.
It doesn;t mean, as some have speculated, a single app store for the Zune High definition and Windows Mobile. Or a common set of games offered across the Zune Hd and Xbox. Yes, there will be even additional integration between the Zune Hd and Xbox (also as a new $89 A/V dock for non-gamers who are still interested in streaming Hd content to their HDTVs rather than onto their gaming consoles). But the handful of games and apps Microsoft is going to offer in November for free on the Zune Hd are casual games (think Job Gotham Racing Ferrari Edition), a calculator, a weather app, and Facebook/Twitter clients.
Why not go the Apple route and have one big app store within the cloud?
“Mobile devices are always connected. Our device is sometimes connected towards the Web,” Farrell stated. That means different kinds of apps and experiences are better suited to a Zune Hd than a mobile phone, he said.
Speaking of the Internet, Microsoft — or, at least, the Zune team — is starting to talk about Microsoft;s entertainment future as being about four screens. Microsoft execs, from CEO Steve Ballmer to Chief Software program Architect Ray Ozzie, have been describing Microsoft;s long-term “three screens and a cloud” vision. Those three screens — the PC, TV and a portable device — are complemented by a fourth, Farrell said: The Web.
With the Zune High definition, Microsoft is including a built-in Internet browser as part of the device;s Windows CE-based operating system. (It;s “a version of IE for Windows Mobile 6.5, but highly customized for Zune High definition,” a spokesperson mentioned. The version of IE that is part of Windows Mobile 6.5 is IE 6-based.) Users can use an on-screen keyboard and Bing, unsurprisingly, is the built-in search engine on the device.
Many industry watchers cite Apple;s control of the end-to-end experience — everything from the hardware towards the software program — as key to what makes its products successful. But that;s not the way Microsoft is going, at least not in the media player market.
“The way to think concerning the Zune going forward is as a software program and solutions layer,” Farrell stated.
What;s your take: Are the Softies are thinking about this the precise way?