The differently successful Zune music player won't be a doing an iPhone, according to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. He said in a recent interview at the USA Today CEO Forum, rather than following Apple's lead with the cell phone announcement earlier this year, the company will put Zune capabilities into Windows Mobile phones.

"It's not a concept you'll ever get from us," Ballmer told USA Today journo David Lieberman. "We're in the Windows Mobile business. We can put Zune into Windows Mobile, we can put Xbox into Windows Mobile. We can pour everything in."

He said that a phone is a general purpose device for making and receiving calls, sending the odd text or even email.

"You may want music, you may want to play games, you may want to carry your contacts with you, and you may want to pay for things. I think we have to think about the phone instead of as a fixed-function device, a phone is really kind of a general purpose device that we need to have clean and easy to use," he told delegates.

We think that Apple will definitely clear up with the iPhone with LG with its Shine coming up second - and Windows Mobile cum Xbox cum Zune, hmmm! We'll see!