Global Equities Research’s Trip Chowdhry is spreading the rumor that Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer will be unveiling the Zune phone at CES in LA on January 7th 2009. Chowdhry claims that the company’s new centerpiece will combine the best features of the Zune media player with the hardware design of Danger’s mobile Sidekick. Think of the iPhone with a slide out QWERTY.

My major issue with a Zune phone is development. Are we to expect a new OS that everyone will now have to develop separate apps for? Will it just be Windows Mobile apps ported to the Zune phone? Hey Ballmer, hows about getting some more info out to the masses? Thanks.