After five years of doing battle with Apple's iPod, sources are reporting that Microsoft is bowing out of the stand-alone music player fight and will stop releasing new Zune media players.
No official word has come from the Redmond, Wash.-based company, but an anonymous source has told Bloomberg that Microsoft is going to kill of the Zune media players and focus on putting the Zune software into its Windows Phone 7 mobile phones.
Released in 2006, the Zune went through four generations, with the latest being 2009's highly-rated Zune HD player. Despite its strong last offering, the Zune brand failed to break Apple's chokehold on the portable media player industry.
Zune owners and fans need not worry, though. In an e-mail statement sent to Bloomberg, Microsoft said that it will continue to support all Zune devices sold in North America.
Pour out a little.
[via Bloomberg]
