Zune music and video service for the iPhone?

The Zune HD has piqued our interest as an iPod touch competitor, but it seems Microsoft's plans to take on Apple in the portable multimedia player market run deeper.

Speaking in an interview with ZDNet, director of communications for Microsoft's TV, video and music business Jose Pinero has highlighted the fact that there is a significant difference between the Zune HD and the Zune service.

It seems Microsoft is making a big effort to establish the Zune brand as a multimedia content delivery service, while the Zune HD is a separate device designed to plug into the service.

But Redmond seems to understand that people might not necessarily want to buy a Zune HD, even if they want to buy (or, indeed, stream) music or video content from the Zune service.

Therefore, the company is looking toward the possibility of expanding Zune to other platforms, including mobile, and even iPhone. Should this level of compatibility be achieved, Zune could find a foothold among PC users keen to shed iTunes all who are looking for new music/video subscription service rather than buying each item individually.

It sounds as though this is all quite a long way down the line, but it looks as though Apple could be facing competition from Microsoft on a variety of fronts, not simply the pocket media player.