Microsoft Phone Filling at the FCC

A filing that Microsoft submitted Monday to the Federal Communications Commission suggests that the company will likely add phone to a hand-held media players (Zune?).

According to the filing, Microsoft and other firms will submit for the agency's approval a prototype of a wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet.

In the filing, Microsoft describes a wireless device that utilizes OFDM, a technology that can be used to route digital TV and voice calls among devices. The technology is also used in Wi-fi and WiMax. Versions of OFDM have been tested and deployed for mobile phone use by carriers including Sprint Nextel and closely-held Clearwire.

Microsoft says that the intended use of the device is "consumer broadband access and networking."

Microsoft may try to smash any Zune phone rumor but they are clearly taking actions to get closer to the release of such a device. This does not mean we are going to see any Zune phone on the course of 2007, but 2008 would make sense according to the 3 years plan the company always said they had for the Zune platform.

Releasing a Zune phone that would enable phone calls on Wi-fi or WiMax networks would certainly make a huge hit among young people. WiMax network deployments had a slow start but in a 3 years view, a WiMax-WiFi-Zune-Phone could pretty much be a perfect product. It would at least fit the “indie” marketing the company is pushing so hard!

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