Breaking news report: ‘Prototype Zune’ stolen
A weekly paper in a community east of Seattle has dropped an indication that a prototype exists for a new Zune player. The Sammamish Review reports:
Edmonds police have arrested a Pittsburgh, Penn. man, 19, who they say burglarized a home in Sammamish and elsewhere in the state…
In the Sammamish case, the homeowner came home to find that the second floor window screen had been pried off and the window — which was previously left slightly ajar — was now wide open.
The suspect then allegedly stole $1,708 worth of items, including a $300 prototype of a new Microsoft Zune, a $700 diamond ring and a $500 pearl necklace. ‘The Xbox, the notebook computers, they’re all there,’ [Sammamish Police Department Detective Bill] Albright said. Only small items that can fit in a suspect’s pockets are stolen in these cases, he explained.
Yes: a “$300 prototype of a new Microsoft Zune”. At first I thought this might be a mistake – and perhaps the Zune is simply a Limited Edition Zune… or an early prototype from the 1st or 2nd generation models.
But the inclusion of the adjective “new” has me curious.
What about the $300 value quoted in the article? If it’s a prototype, how can a value be assigned to it? My guess is that the homeowner was required to estimate a value of each of the items stolen.
It sounds like the homeowner may be a Microsoft employee, from the gadgets discussed in the article as well as the prototype reference.
This all may be an erroneous police report… or it might be the first indication, anywhere, that a new piece of Zune hardware is in the works and already in the prototype stage.
We’ll keep our ears to the ground. Thanks to Stefan for the tip!
