Microsoft is planning to launch a mobile Zune portal sometime in 2009, according to the French newspaper Les Echos. The site would extend the reach of the company’s iTunes rival, the Zune Marketplace, and allow users to download games and music directly to various platforms, including computers, Windows Mobile devices and for the first time, Zune players themselves. While Zunes have always come equipped with a Wi-Fi module, they have never had Internet access, a prominent feature on Apple’s competing iPod touch.The availability of Windows Mobile access is said to be tied to the release of Windows Mobile 7, a follow-up to the yet-unreleased Windows Mobile 6.1. In the same year, Microsoft is expected to release its third generation of Zune players, still wrapped in secrecy. Compatibility with a Zune Marketplace, however, may suggest web-browsing ability.
Source: Generation NT
