MS exec claims Zune for Mac due soon

Microsoft's Windows Phone marketing lead in the UK, Oded Ran, today claimed in a Twitter update (since deleted) that a Zune client would be available for the Mac to help sync Windows Phone 7 devices. Without going into details, the executive said customers could "use Zune on their Macs" to sync the phones. There would be "more details soon," he added.

The company had previously said there would be some form of software to sync WP7 with the Mac, but it was always presumed that this would be a conduit app or a third-party app such as Missing Sync that would pull information from Mac-native sources. Ran's statement implies a full media player, which has long been considered but has also never been clearly close to a release. Microsoft is generally thought to have kept the app off the Mac due to the small likelihood of returns from supporting Zune players on the iPod's original home, but WP7 may advance the case as more people are likely to own a device for work.

Whether every feature would work isn't clear; Microsoft has never officially enabled protected Windows Media tracks that would be necessary for a Zune Pass, so customers may be limited to downloading those tracks but having to resort to the web player or a Zune-supporting device to stream them rather than play them directly from the Zune software. Zune movies would also be affected. [via Neowin]

By Electronista Staff