The Zune phone rumor somehow manages to persist even though Microsoft constantly bats it down. A new twist to the story has emerged, however. In a recent interview, Steve Ballmer said that Microsoft is exploring the idea of porting the Zune software to Windows Mobile devices. That would be a step in the right direction.I am not a fan of Windows Media Player as realized on Windows Mobile devices. I find it to be clunky and not as user friendly as music software on a mobile phone should be. According to a recent interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, WinMo devices could get a kick in the pants when it comes to the media player's capabilities.

CIO asked Ballmer about its Zune line of players, and Ballmer's answer has perked up the ears of the blogosphere. He said, "At the end of the day, one of the big trends is that all content is going digital. And if we don't have the software and services that are useful, helpful and valuable for the consumption of music and video, we are sort of not really a player. Now, we built the Zune hardware with the Zune software -- and what you'll see more and more over time is that the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc."

The Zune software is much more usable than the mobile version of WMP. Adding Zune to the WinMo platform would give Windows Mobile the media power it needs to be more appealing to consumers who value content as much as productivity.

Ballmer didn't say when the software would be added to Windows Mobile. It's likely that it won't appear until the next generation of Windows Mobile is available, which is currently slated for sometime in 2009.