Could Zune phone come with free music?

In the absence of any concrete news from Microsoft about Zune, the same rumors crop up every few months. We've known for some time that Microsoft is porting the Zune software and marketplace to some sort of living room device--it's called the Xbox 360. (I doubt they'll do a separate piece of hardware like Apple TV, especially given the recent rash of cost-cutting around the company.) And as far as the latest crop of Zune-phone rumors, I expected Microsoft to announce Zune for Windows Mobile back in February at the Mobile World Congress show, and was surprised when it didn't happen.

Now I understand why it's taking so long. According to this unsourced rumor at WMPoweruser, Microsoft is planning to allow mobile operators to be involved in the process of selling downloads. In other words, when you download a song from the Zune Marketplace to your Windows Mobile phone over 3G, your carrier will set the price and handle the billing. Adding a third party--the carriers--to your development process introduces delay.