CNet Talks to Joe Belfiore

“There are a number of businesses where Microsoft is playing catch-up these days. But arguably one where the company starts furthest behind is in the music business, where it decided two years ago to scrap its partner approach and go it alone with the Zune in its effort to catch the iPod. I had a chance on Monday, not just to play around with the latest crop of Zunes, but also to talk strategy with Joe Belfiore, a longtime Microsoftie who moved over earlier this year to head Zune development. I also followed up with him on Wednesday, following Apple's announcements, to get a few more thoughts. (At the end of this post, I've also embedded my video interview with him from Monday.)”

Ina Fried of CNet News had a very interesting interview with Joe Belfiore, the head of Zune development, last week. Ina quizzed Joe on a variety of topics including his take on the Apple announcements and what he thought about the future of entertainment devices. Joe’s comments were very interesting because I think where he sees the Zune going is pretty exciting.

It’s also interesting to note that Joe didn’t give the standard denial when asked about the idea of a Zune phone. He played rather coy on the issue, actually. Ina also has a video up too so you can spend some time reading and watching while you wait for the update to go live.