Electronista: Microsoft has held its first concrete meetings to design a Zune-branded cellphone, according to an unconfirmed but allegedly credible leak from jkOnTheRun.
The device is well away from completion but is intended to use multi-touch input and would use a variant of Windows Mobile 7, Microsoft’s first major overhaul to its smartphone platform since 2005. Windows Live services will be a major focus along with the Zune’s emphasis on media playback.
Little else is known about the device, although Microsoft has made multi-touch a focus of Windows 7 on the desktop and is believed to be doing the same for Windows Mobile 7 along with a revamped interface and support for motion sensing.
The software is tentatively scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2009 and would line up with Microsoft’s historical tendency to develop Zune devices over the course of one year.
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