Microsoft plans handhelds and iPod killer

Dean Takahashi, found out when researching a tome called "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked: The Real Story Behind Microsoft's Next-Generation Video Game Console," that Vole has a cunning plan which it hopes to smack Apple about the chops with [www.spiderworks.com/xbox360].

Takahashi says that Vole is designing a product that combines video games, music and video in one handheld device.

Now we thought that was what Origami was all about, but Takahashi said that it isn't.

He said that Vole has plucked a team from the Xbox360 crowd for the project. Game executive J Allard is in charge along with the system designer on the Xbox 360 Greg Gibson.

Vole is positioning its machine as a handheld game device rather than an MP3 jukebox. This means that it is building on its XBox market rather than trying to nick people from Apple on its music business alone.

More in the Mercury News, here.