Microsoft: 'June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers... hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre' Update: It's a hoax

Microsoft has a new twitter account in support of its Office 2010 product launch. What's strange though, is that the people behind the account seem to care more about the future of the Zune than Office. Two tweets (of five) from this account have caught our attention. The first says,

June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers.

Then as a followup to the barrage of questions received, @officethemovie adds,

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

Naturally, we're expecting the launch of the Zune HD and/or the unveiling of project Pink. Whatever happens, the month of June is going to be historic with Apple's WWDC scheduled to kick off on June 8th and the Palm Pre rumored for release on June 5th or June 7th.

Update: It's worth mentioning that the big E3 gaming expo kicks off on June 2nd (press events on the 1st) -- could be important if there's any truth to the new Zune HD supporting some form of Xbox game integration.

Update 2: Sadly, it's all a hoax -- but it was fun while it lasted.

[Via Neowin, thanks Anthony S.]

[DStarsong @ May 12th 2009 4:32AM]

Damn...

[EI8HT @ May 12th 2009 5:23AM]

just like i should have held off buying an ipod for a zune?

wtf

[gus @ May 12th 2009 6:13AM]

...and I just finished beating up MS about their handheld devices not being able to compete in the maket place on the earlier post about Zune subscriptions.

[Freakin Ijit @ May 12th 2009 6:18AM]

Good lord - if this is REALLY from Microsoft hope no one's long Palm stock today!

[I say "today" because transient moves are much more dramatic than longer term ones, usually, with "news" like this]

[rv @ May 12th 2009 6:46AM]

Why would you be worried if you were long palm stock? No announcement is being made today. Also, you would have bought palm stock knowing about the iphone, and many other companies smartphones as well. A zunephone, as it were, would probably not cause much price fluctuation on palm stock.

[iphonerulez @ May 12th 2009 8:30AM]

Since when are people getting excited over a recycled brown turd that is known as the Zune? The Zune HD is in the same state as the Palm Pre.... highly-touted vaporware. Poor Melinda is going to have to carry of those Zune HDs because her husband, Bill, won't allow her to use an iPhone. Ain't that the shizzle. Hold off from buying an iPhone? Who the hell in their right mind would choose some Zune over an iPod Touch or iPhone?

The people who would buy a Zune HD are probably the same people who think Windows 7 isn't basically just a warmed-up, left-over version of stale Vista. They'll find out soon enough when their precious $250 netbooks get indigestion and start puking their internals all over the floor.

M$ talks about the Zune Pass.
Do you think I should buy the new Zune?...Pass!

[Look_Around_You @ May 12th 2009 9:05AM]

@Iphonerulz, and all the other iTrolls that are here instead of getting ready for class.



Here's the deal. You dont have to buy one if you dont want. These guys mearly said on Twitter that you should hold off on buying an iPhone or Pre because we have somthing you might like.


From this we get a shower of "enlightened" banter from Apple users that isn't even readable as something that came from a sane mature adult.

"They told me to not buy an iPhone??? IM OFFENDED!!"

"I guess all 4 people that got one are happy"

"You wont get any friends with a Zune"

"Turd brick!!!"

So what exactly are you trying to prove? That product choice stinks? That a company being proud of their product (unless it's Apple) is offensive? That anything that isnt in lock-step with what you bought is wrong?

Okay. Thanks for your input. That is why you guys have the image of douchebags, of pompous windbags, and of mindless shills for a brand.

I know it's the main reason I dont use Apple products, after being a fan of them all through the 90s.

[Shinigami @ May 12th 2009 9:05AM]

The first page is very negative with only one highly ranked comment. But its well worth looking for :)

[Jonathan @ May 12th 2009 9:20AM]

@Look_Around_You - Well said. Even though I am an Apple fanboy, a college graduate, a working professional, and have zero desire to buy a Zune, it does seem intriguing that I would at least look at it to see what it's all about. I'm not going to be buying a phone from either as I am a hardcore BlackBerry user, but I never cared for the Zune's interface. I don't like the Text based navigation menus. While Apple's is prettier, the Zune does have some cool features that the iPod/Phone doesn't incorporate and if it wasn't for Microsoft in the mix, there won't be any competition, and without competition there won't be any innovation from any company.

[atm @ May 12th 2009 9:26AM]

I have a feeling the announcement will be tegra related. That tegra demo was better than both the iphone and pre combined.

[William @ May 12th 2009 10:09AM]

I have a Zune and it sits on my shelf collecting dust. I never really got intot he thing. I bought an iphone and I love it. I am not sure it makes me a whiny fan boy like some people say though...

I always find it funny how when people dont agree with you and share the exact same opinion as you they become less of an individual. I for one could care less if people want to call me a douche for liking an apple product or a MS product, of course I also dont really care what people on a forum think of me either.

I think all products have their ups and downs. I can find flaw in both my iphone and a Zune. I sure wouldnt hang my hat on an inpending MS release of anything though...

[TheSuburbanWhiteBoy @ May 12th 2009 10:12AM]

I bet Verizon gets this Zunephone. They like easily crippled phone OS's so a M$ ZunePhone will be perfect for them to fail upon. I guess anything beats the Storm.

[nick @ May 12th 2009 10:29AM]

Regarding the mention of Tegra [in the Zune], didn't Microsoft and NVIDIA part ways after the original Xbox? You would think that if Microsoft did release a new Zune, that would integrate with the 360 AND that the video would be compatible with what they're using now....ATI. But that's just my thought. Maybe it doesn't matter if the video chips are from different manufacturers.

[Dez @ May 12th 2009 10:30AM]

@William

Since you hate your zune so much, sell it to me. I'll be glad to take it off your hands. I love my 8gb zune, but I just need more space. Im obviously waiting until June to buy a new one, but wouldn't mind picking up a 80/120gb zune.

[Duke @ May 12th 2009 10:47AM]

Iphonerulz - You post the most worthless bandwagon loving immature crap around man. Besides your lame name are the use of "M$" and "shizzle" as examples of your brilliant lingo. You are an uninspired troll fanboy who can do little else that kiss Apple’s backside compulsively. Nothing you say is even remotely valuable to discussions. If you bothered to try any of the products that you talk about you would know how invalid your opinions are.

I love my iPhone, but the Zune is damn nice and has a great feel to it. Hell, my wife uses hers everyday even though she too has an iPhone. So stop acting like you know a damn thing about other consumer’s wants or a product’s place in this market. Giving another product some credit won’t cost you your imaginary job with Apple.

[nick @ May 12th 2009 11:00AM]

I have one other thought on this...

What if there was a new phone that did NOT require joining an existing major phone service (AT&T, Verizon, et al). So say it were an IP based phone, that as long as you have internet connectivity, you were able to make phone calls over the internet. And say this phone were from a major company. Could be a game changer.

[Duke @ May 12th 2009 11:08AM]

Problem is reliability of the phone Nick. You need a phone that works pretty much anywhere - so without wireless internet connections being live all over the phone would be useless to people. Maybe if we developed a national wireless system it could work.

[Bonqueesha @ May 12th 2009 2:20PM]

If the device is running windows mobile 6.5, I won't be holding off. Can't say I'm not curious, though. I can say, however, that the device in question isn't coming on Sprint, so it does me no good.

[insky @ May 12th 2009 4:32AM]

Wow I was expecting September...That's when they launched last year.

Maybe it's an anouncement for Zune on WinMo to take some of the bite off the Pre and the iPhone.

[insky @ May 12th 2009 4:36AM]

If you read the Twitter post it now says,

"@Gilly2468 @Chimerica @clubdirthill @serenecloud New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. :)"

So I'm now pretty sure it's something pertaining to the mobile phone market.

[Joe H @ May 12th 2009 4:41AM]

Now, let me preface this by saying I like a lot of MS products (I was one of the few to like Vista, and I've heard the Zune is actually better in many ways than the iPod, even if market share is not one of those ways.)

But, I hope for Microsoft's sake that it's not just Zune software for WM. If it's as simple as that, then they really just don't get it.

There's more to the success of the iPhone and the buzz of the Pre than just having good music software. It's about the entire interface in general, and at this point, Microsoft just needs to start from scratch in that department.

[weg @ May 12th 2009 4:52AM]

In good Microsoft tradition, this will probably be just a product announcement (available Qx 2010) rather than a release.

[X-Blade @ May 12th 2009 8:15AM]

"hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre" is such a bold statement.

This news is changing the whole scene

[Mike @ May 12th 2009 8:54AM]

announcing it on the same time as iphone/pre. it must mean they've got something up their sleeve. lets hope they do, otherwise they'd look like a fool.

[TareX @ May 12th 2009 10:19AM]

The TEGRA PHONE is coming, lads.........................

This is it.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/mobile_games_demos.html

[ShadowMaker @ May 12th 2009 4:35AM]

"Twitter will be integrated in Word"?
Great. Nothing like a full featured multipage document publishing software to type 140 characters or less.
BTW Isn't it ironic that I couldn't tweet this comment because it's longer than those 140 characters?

[yode @ May 12th 2009 4:38AM]

wow, June is gonna be a crazy crazy month

[Mike @ May 12th 2009 6:49AM]

it will be EPIC!!

i've been holding off getting a new phone/mp3 player for half a year, and now there' 3 big competitors all coming. WOOT!
reminds me of the console war of sony, microsoft and nintendo.

[Mark @ May 12th 2009 7:21AM]

Your avatar fascinates me.

[Icello @ May 12th 2009 11:28AM]

Yeah, I can't wait for june. My theory about MS is that if they were smart they would launch this not as the Zunephone(zunes have an awful reputation) but rather as the XBox Phone, and oh yeah the media player is zune. And also make an iPod Touch competitor. And make mobile ports of Halo, etc.

[Bokal @ May 12th 2009 4:42AM]

Ok MS, I'm buying a N97.

More Winmo/Zune crap... I'm so excited!!!

[Paul @ May 12th 2009 5:46AM]

Remember if you are a win mobile user you will be disappointed with Nokia/Symbian software, NO kinetic (flick) scrolling on anything apart from the browser & no word suggestion/correction when typing. Until Symbian corrects this I will not return, my heart is Symbian my mind says NO.

[Steveorevo @ May 12th 2009 6:14AM]

Will it be like MS Office 2010? Fatware galore. Now with an even bigger runtime, demanding even more hardware, and even less intuitive!

[chefgon_ign @ May 12th 2009 6:20AM]

MS Office is most definitely bloated, I'll give you that, but since 2007 it has had the virtue of being the only intuitive Office software on the planet. It has its problems, but give credit where credit is due. Microsoft is the master of Office suite UI design.

[Steveorevo @ May 12th 2009 8:33AM]

And yet their operating system lacks a spell checker. What are we paying for again?

[RemDX @ May 12th 2009 8:46AM]

What the fuck are you talking about? Since when did MS Office have no spell-checker?

[superhobo @ May 12th 2009 9:10AM]

I have Office 2007 running on an old P4 with only 256MB of RAM. Loads and runs just as fast as Office 2003.

It doesn't feel bloated at all.

[Britboyj27 @ May 12th 2009 10:26AM]

@chefgon_ign - Have you ever looked at iWork? While I do grant that it lacks a database solution vs Access and a dedicated publisher like... Publisher, (and Pages does just as good a job) it's overall worlds more intuitive and more productive than MS Office. It's end-products look far more professional and original than anything you'll create in Office.

I still use Word from time to time for grading students' papers, but I would never create anything in Office ever again. If Apple sold a PC version of iWork, I could see it gaining SIGNIFICANT marketshare VERY quickly, especially as it's only $80 for the full version.

[Mark Anderson @ May 12th 2009 12:30PM]

@Britboy

Having used both iWork and Office there are two points to bear in mind:

1) Office is much better on a Windows platform than a Mac. Why this is the case I don't know although I could hazard a few guesses.
2) Office is far better than iWork for overall productivity. iWork is nice but it's definitely the lite version and, frankly, if you want that you'd be better off with Open Office.

[Steveorevo @ May 12th 2009 8:09PM]

@RemDX

Read carefully: And yet their OPERATING SYSTEM lacks a spell checker. Textboxes on the OS don't inherit the ability to spell check. Without Office installed (and the correct version I might add) you don't get spell check in web pages, email, etc. Or worse, you get it in the wrong language (google: old MS-Office, French, Outlook Express, spell check, WTF)

[Adderz @ May 12th 2009 4:45AM]

Could you be any more of a troll

I could come up with a comeback but then i realized i had better things to do.

[dssstrkl @ May 12th 2009 4:48AM]

I love how they're using Tweetie. Too bad for them atebits is a mac/iphone only developer...

[Mitch @ May 12th 2009 5:11AM]

Money talks.

[Luxu @ May 12th 2009 5:11AM]

I didnt notice that, it shows that they have to use a mac seeing as its much more stable LOL

[esporenthead @ May 12th 2009 9:56AM]

That does seem a bit odd, doesn't it. Wonder if they are using it on an iPhone or the Mac version? O_o

[typoink @ May 12th 2009 10:15AM]

Unlike Apple, MS isn't a cult leader. They don't pretend that some of their employees don't use Macs or iPhones.

Well, aside from Ballmer. Pretty sure he wants to be a cult leader.

[logicbomb.de @ May 12th 2009 2:01PM]

huh??

Bill Gates banned ipods and such from his household


http://gizmodo.com/5162674/iphones-and-ipods-banned-at-gates-home

[Adderz @ May 12th 2009 4:50AM]

One thing i always hated was how nothing is capitalized. That really annoys me for some reason.

The Zune80 was a great competitor to the iPod classic but now they are falling behind. People are migrating more towards touch screen PMP's like the iPod Touch, i hope they can come out with something good.

There is nothing like (good) competition. Creative is just awful and nothing from iRiver appeals to me, but the Zunes are always quite interesting.

[Jughead @ May 12th 2009 8:29AM]

Creative is just awful? Being one of the few devices that can actually copy and paste folders/files in Windows Explorer and can do all the managing without any extra software other than Windows. I find it hard to say it's awful.

[Arun @ May 12th 2009 8:46AM]

I have a creative player and really nice! Creative is quite under-rated to be honest.