Make reports on an article about patent filing from Redmond which may indicate the Microsoft is busy preparing the long rumored Zune Phone. The photographs of screen mockups that come with the patent application seems to suggest that their “Extensible Filtered Lists for Mobile Device User Interface,” will include a touch interface picture viewer, phone calls and message screen, games, MP3 player (of course), calendar, and all the usual suspects. It doesn’t look as pretty as the Cupertino’s iPhone, of course, but it’s a Windows interface, so it’s going to be list-if-ied and organized in group fashion.

The user can organize the data any way he/she chooses in list fashion and can even expand it. Hence, they can list their MP3s alphabetically, by album, label, band, user preference. They can update their phone book in a myriad of ways, or even handle their pictures accordingly. What’s missing though, is a video application. Could it be that Redmond is trying to court the stereotypical “PC” users in the Apple Commercials and leaving the hip, annoying kid to the “be touched or bricked” by the iPhone?

Nevertheless, it looks like Redmond is once again following in Cupertino’s footsteps, rather than striking new ground. But then again, how could it when comparing it to the iPhone? Offering one that is free of cell exclusivity and allows users to add third party applications would be a start.

Source: The UnWired via Make.