Zune going global in advance of Windows Phone 7

Microsoft will extend its Zune digital entertainment service to the international market this fall in advance of the release of its revamped Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system. According to Microsoft, it will introduce the Zune software platform, Zune Marketplace online store (which offers millions of MP3-format music downloads), Zune Pass music subscription service (promising unlimited downloads and streaming services) and related efforts to more than more than 20 new markets, including the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain, promising a comprehensive music and video experience spanning across Windows Phone 7 smartphones, Windows-based PCs and Xbox LIVE gaming systems.

The Zune platform is a critical component of Windows Phone 7, first unveiled earlier this year. Chief among the new features in Windows Phone 7 is a series of "hubs" bringing together related content from the web, applications and services--the hubs include Music + Video, which integrates the Zune media player to offer content from the user's PC as well as online music services and built-in FM radio. "Every Windows 7 phone will be a Zune," Windows Phone vice president Joe Belfiore said during a February press event touting WP7's forthcoming release.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft will issue three GSM-based WP7 smartphones next month via AT&T, with the first CDMA-based devices not arriving until the first half of 2011. Windows Phone 7 can't arrive soon enough for Microsoft: Its current Windows Mobile operating system continues to fall out of favor among consumers, now representing 11.8 percent of the U.S. smartphone market--down from 14 percent just three months ago--according to new data published by digital measurement firm comScore. Windows Mobile lags far behind Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry (39.3 percent of the U.S. smartphone market), Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS (23.8 percent) and Google's Android (17 percent, up 5 percentage points over April 2010).

For more on Zune's global expansion:
- read this release

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