Zune Phone coming soon...

Rumor has it that Microsoft may soon start developing a device billed to be a potential Apple iPhone killer.
The software major has reportedly stated that a mobile phone based on it's Zune digital media player "is not an unreasonable move".
The phone will likely to be called the "Zune Phone" and will be a competitor to Apple's iPhone. The iPhone is currently available only in the US exclusively from AT&T.
Talks about a Zune-based mobile phone from Microsoft are not entirely new. Ever since the launch of the Zune, there's been a buzz doing the rounds of industry.

The device is described as being used for “consumer broadband access and networking”. Microsoft goes on to say that the device would use OFDM as its communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth. Well, why not? The standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards of the future. But with wireless access gaining momentum, and the all-around arms race for bandwidth, 4G starts to make sense, in a crazy, crazy kind of way. With 3G on the rise, 4G is still the far future. With popular providers like T-Mobile still struggling to put out their 3G networks, anything beyond is sci-fi. In a press release Sprint/Nextel announced its plans to build out a 4G network based on the IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMax standard. The 802.16 standards use OFDM, the exact same modulation protocol as the Microsoft device in the FCC filing. If this all fits together, it looks like MS is working on a mobile WiMax-enabled Zune Phone, which would have download speeds of up to 2Mbps, fast enough for the Xbox-to-Zune streaming we’ve heard about, and fast enough for just about anything else the Zune Phone might be used for.
With Apple's iPhone was launched in June 2007 and the Microsoft's Zune Phone is thought to be launched near December, this year is gearing up to be highly prolific for the cellular industry.