Here"s something to watch for tomorrow, Tuesday the 24th, at the Windows Phone "Mango" event. What will happen to Zune and its services? For its hardware, there were promises of Zune devices in the works. Not much has materialized following the MIX Keynote, so in the best case scenario, some members of the Windows Phone team of which the Zune hardware division was absorbed into are probably working on it in small bits. That is, if we"re not to believe that the Zune hardware platform is dead.
Zune"s services have remained intact, but there is word that they will be broken up into different divisions following the recent Nokia deal. The Twitter user MS_Nerd (via wpcentral) shared two tweets of what will happen in terms of rebranding:
@manan @clubdirthill Wee little rumor seeping out now: Zune next to be split into Xbox mobile, Xbox Live & Windows Live Zune on the 24th.
And the Zune backend platform will become a "Nokia services on Azure" offering, with content from Netflix, Last.fm & Hulu among others.
A rebranding may reinvigorate the ailing Zune platform, or what will eventually become of it in three separate divisions, although the name "Windows Live Zune" sounds a bit peculiar. We should know more information regarding any possible shuffling in the days to come.