Fly the Zune skies

Microsoft’s Zune media player may not be making any noticeable impact on Apple’s dominance of the personal media player space, but it does have at least one corporate fan: United Airlines.  

The Redmond-based tech giant and United are extending the Zune partnership they kicked off a couple months ago. On the Zune Insider podcast, product evangelist Dave McLauchlan noted that the airline will be providing Zune HDs to passengers on flights to Hong Kong and Australia as part of the expanded test.

Microsoft is providing 500 of the devices – and to make it particularly interesting, it’s talking with studios about loading those with exclusive content, including films that haven’t yet been released on DVD.

It’s a limited test, yes – but the high quality screen on the Zune HD could convert some travelers. And it’s a big step from where things started less than three months ago, when United began offering passengers Zune inflight audio – a series of 21 playlists programmed by the team behind the gadget. 

Of course, Apple has its own airline partnership – with Jetstar Airways making the iPad available as an in-flight entertainment option.