Microsoft is certainly everywhere, and have their hands in a large number of markets. That number continues to grow each year. Now, Microsoft is moving to move in on the iPod with a portable media player of their own. Microsoft's device will feature more than just music and perhaps video functionality, leaving the potential for SMS, email, net, et cetera. Ballmer confirmed the move in a Forbes article, in which he stated this:
"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.
Conglomerate devices don't always work out, though, and often times simple can equate to better quality or better likability. Even Microsoft would have an uphill battle going against Apple in the iPod sector, so it will be interesting to see how they fare.