The Zune Player is officially dead. What does this mean for Microsoft?

So, Microsoft has killed the Zune Player, its rival to the iPod that flopped almost as embarrassingly as the Kin smartphones (only that they stretched out its agonizing lifespan to five years instead of nipping it in the bud after two months). 

With the Zune dead, the tech giant Microsoft will instead shift its concentration to implementing Zune software into its new mobile phones, which haven't failed like the company's last attempt but are certainly not making waves like the iPhone and Android phones. This news of Zune-software-to-smartphone comes from an inside source, according to Bloomberg, but the decision hasn't been publicly nor officially announced.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at the launch of the first Zune back in 2006 that he predicted the new device could beat the iPod, although it wouldn't be easy. It evidently proved impossible. Is the same thing happening with the Windows 7 mobile phones? What about when Windows drops an iPad rival?

"RIP Zune Player" became a trending topic on Twitter as people cracked jokes about the device, cementing its legacy as a geek-culture laughing stock. Whether or not the device is worthy of such cruel mockery is debatable, but one thing is for certain: it's too Zune to tell if Microsoft can turn this debacle around.