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J Allard, the head of Microsoft's Zune unit, launched the attack, whilst hinting that the company may produce a rival Zune phone.

He claims Microsoft will "never say never" to making a phone and plans to begin including features of its Zune media players into Windows Mobile.

Allard says there's a lot of potential crossover between the Zune player and phones. "When you see the Zune, you'll say, I want my music experience on the phone to be like that," he tells

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the New York Times.

Allard believes the iPhone is beautiful and easy to use, but that people aren't buying the device for its music capabilities. "People are buying it because it's an Apple phone, not because it's an iPod," he claims. "It's a lousy iPod. You can't skip a track without looking at it. You can't go running with the thing." He fails to explain the last remark.

Microsoft would have made equally good phone software, were it not for the network operators, Allard insists. "In the past, the cellphone carrier was the final decision maker. A cellphone operator is not best positioned to decide how to lay out a menu.

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