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A leak purportedly from Microsoft's Zune team reveals that Redmond is plotting a next-generation Zune that will be aimed squarely at Apple's iPod Nano, MacNN reports. It's worthwhile noting that the report come from a blogger who claims to have spoken directly to a Zune team member. MS is reportedly prepping a flash-based Zune which is said to be nearing the design completion stage. It is said to be much smaller than the current 30GB Zune and will match or exceed the feature set and size of the iPod Nano. It is claimed that the device is 3" long, 0.25" thick and equipped with a screen that covers 75% of the front face of the player. Microsoft is also reportedly considering beating the Nano on storage capacity as well. The high-end Nano currently tops out at 8GB and costs as much as a 30GB hard-drive equipped iPod video. The full-size Zune 2.0 is also on the drawing board; it is superficially similar to the current model, but thinner and Redmond will also supposedly boost the hard drive capacity. Expected to be released before this year's holiday season, 2.4 million Zune version 2.0s are expected to be ordered. Analysis: It would be very uncharacteristic of MS to give up after the first try; the company succeeds through iteration. Cloning iPods would be the natural direction for Redmond to take, with the popular Nano the obvious target.
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