KEY POINTS:
Microsoft isn't planning an iPhone clone with its Zune player, and doesn't see too much of a future for Blu-ray with its Xbox, according to an interview today.
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, told an SFGate interviewer that Windows Mobile is key to the company's strategy and that it has no plans to turn its Zune MP3 player into a phone/internet device.
He said that about 20 million devices running Windows Mobile will ship this year.
"We will outsell the iPhone," he told SFGate. "We will outsell the BlackBerry."
"We don't have any plans to make phones ourselves. Our focus is on the belief that a phone is a very personal thing. Different people want different types of phones. We think that is going to continue, and we think Windows Mobile is in a great position to service all those different opportunities."
Bach also denied that Microsoft was considering adding a Blu-ray drive to its Xbox 360 console.
Rumours of a Blu-ray drive for the games console have been persistent since Toshiba conceded its HD-DVD standard has lost the format war to Sony's Blu-ray in January.
Microsoft sold an HD-DVD drive as an optional extra for the Xbox 360 until the format's demise.
To use Blu-ray in the console would mean licensing the technology from games rival Sony - undoubtedly a bitter pill for Microsoft to swallow.
"If you look at the Blu-ray player market, you haven't seen the acceleration everybody expected," said Bach.
"It's not as much about whether all the content is in a Blu-ray format or a HD DVD format."
"You have to look at how fundamentally compelling the difference is between a progressive scan DVD player and the picture that it can produce and what you get on a high-definition player. The reality is there is some difference, but most people look at it and say, "I am not going to pay extra for that."
"There is nothing to even talk about right now with regard to the next generation. That is so far out that there isn't anything to talk about."
- NZ HERALD STAFF
