Poll: Would You Buy a Zune Phone?

It was quite the one-two punch. First Microsoft came out swinging yesterday with a new commercial attacking the value proposition of buying music in iTunes vs. the all-you-can-eat $15 monthly Zune Pass. As Ars Technica rightly points out, however, it’s going to take a lot more than a new ad and website to make a real dent in Apple’s market share. Then things got really interesting. A couple of Twitter posts by Microsoft’s Office 2010 team (officethemovie) said that “June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers” and mentioned a “New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre.” Now, why would Microsoft make comparisons to the iPhone and Palm Pre if the product in question wasn’t a phone? Could this be a reference to a phone version of the rumored ZuneHD? Perhaps Microsoft will indeed take the wraps off a Zune phone, which I’m assuming would be heading to Verizon Wireless. At least that’s the word on the street, since the other big carriers are busy getting their own franchise smart phones out the door (next iPhone, Palm Pre, HTC Magic). Or maybe we’ll see the first phone made by HTC or some other manufacturer with Zune’s services integrated. As our buddy Sascha opines over at Gearlog, this could be the HTC Touch Pro2 or Diamond2 with never-before-seen capabilities. The big question I have is whether consumers will care about this device. To me, it will come down to the user interface, speed versus the typical Windows Mobile phone, and differentiating features (like Xbox-style games available straight from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile). What do you think? Sound off in the poll.