Microsoft Prepping Something Phone and Music Related for June

Update: The basis for this report turned out to be a hoax. The Twitter account referenced is not an official Microsoft account.

A pair of tweets from Microsoft drop strong hints that this company will soon make an announcement that's somehow related to phones and its Zune music player.

Curiously, these hints aren't coming from the Zune group, but from the people who are responsible for Microsoft Office 10. Nevertheless, the two messages say:

June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers.

New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. :)

The first could easily be referring to the Zune HD, a next-generation player that hasn't been announced yet, but many of its details have slipped out already. But the second message mentions two smartphones -- the iPhone and the Palm Pre -- a strong suggestion that this is going to be something more than another stand-alone multimedia player.

There have been reports over the years that Microsoft is prepping a device that combines a music player and a mobile phone. The so-called ZunePhone will allegedly be released under Microsoft's own brand name. The main cause for doubt of these reports stems from the many time Microsoft has denied that any such project is in the works.

This isn't the only possibility though. According to a unconfirmed report from last fall, Microsoft is working on a project to bring Zune-like functions to other devices, including Windows Mobile. This would allegedly enhance the multimedia software in Microsoft's operating system for phones.

Source: Microsoft via Engadget