For those who have been highly rated HD Microsoft Zune portable media player, and I wanted it to be a phone, your prayers have been answered. Yesterday at the press conference of Microsoft for the MWC 2010, the full length of “Zune phone” has finally been pushed into the center of attention and treat the approval of appointment for many participants. 

To be fair, the series of mobile Windows 7 is more than a hard drive with a Zune phone in finally achieved, we are looking at a portable device that combines some of the most successful Microsoft Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox, and Microsoft Office. But make no mistake, there are a lot of Zune in the operating system for Windows Mobile phones.  Everything from the touch screen keyboard to the “twist” style user interface looks and behaves just like Microsoft’s latest Zune HD portable media player.

As a fan of the Zune player, software, and services, I have mixed feelings about the evolution of Microsoft’s flagship operating Smartphone Zune (I felt the same sting when the iPod gave way to the iPhone). The Independent Media Player Zune is no longer the center of the Zune’s story, but rather the prologue.

Mostly though, I’m relieved. I always thought that one of the greatest challenges Microsoft’s attempts to market a portable media player oriented social sharing and the music was the fact that there were many other Zune users to share there. If nothing else, the inclusion of Zune services on Microsoft’s latest smartphone software will mean an explosion in the population of registered Zune users. The Social may finally become, well, socialized.

Indeed, lost in the shuffle of all the Windows Phone 7 Series announcements is the fact (reported by ZDNet) that the Zune’s music and video services will suddenly be available internationally once the supported phones are available around the 2010 winter holidays. Currently, aside from some limited international exposure of the Zune Video Marketplace for the Xbox 360,  Microsoft Zune and music services are strictly limited to the United States. Microsoft McGee Casey would not reveal exactly which countries will receive services for the Zune, but said the Zune music and video service is available outside the United States “…in all countries where Windows 7 Phones will ship.”

It remains to be seen whether the international availability of the Zune software and services resulting from the sale of its Zune player from Microsoft HD multimedia phones abroad. Unlike the parallel tracks Apple has created with iPhone and iPod, always popular, Microsoft could choose to begin their participation in mobile media, acknowledging (perhaps correctly) that the future of portable entertainment is entirely in phones.

If Microsoft decides to continue selling and developing the Zune HD hardware, it will be interesting to see how it answers the inevitable pleas from Zune HD users to update the product with Windows Phone 7 Series features, such as Xbox Live integration and broader mobile app support.