Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Fortune magazine that the company is interested in taking on the iPod, and hinted about combining the player with a cellphone. Ballmer said,

"In five years are people really going to carry two devices? One device that is their communication device, one device that is music? There's going to be a lot of opportunities to get back in that game. We want to be in that game. Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months."

Of course, Microsoft will have to play catch-up again and again, because Apple will almost certainly have an iPod phone on the market 12 months from now. Good luck, Redmondians.

Microsoft confirms iPod-a-like [Bit-Tech.net]

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