No more Zune for WP8 :D

Well, it looks like this is already confirmed, so just consider this as final proof that Windows Phone 8 will not require the Zune software for syncing ;)
This could go into the rumours section as its not 100% confirmed, but all the facts point towards Windows Phone 8 not using the Zune software for syncing.

First off, there is Microsofts re-branding of Windows Live, Zune & a bunch of other services. Its obvious that the ‘Zune‘ brand feels a bit like a ball & chain and now that Microsoft have realised this, they are moving all their music related stuff under the ‘Xbox Music‘ banner. This means the Zune program is no longer needed as a music player and without that, what use does it still have?

Secondly, I’ve been naughty & have been using the leaked Windows Phone 8 developer toolkit to work on the 1800PocketPC app. Now, if your phone isn’t connected & you try testing your app, it will give you an error message saying “sorry bro, can’t connect to yo mobile” or if Zune isn’t open, it will say “sup homes, just gonna point out yo zune ain’t open“, or at least this is what Visual Studio 2010 would say (sort of). I just tried to running the app from Visual Studio 2012 ( + wp8 dev toolkit ) without Zune open & it gave this message:

Error 9 Connection to device failed.

For connecting to Windows Phone 8 device -Deployment failed because no Windows Phone 8 phone was detected. Make sure a phone is connected and powered on.

For Windows Phone 7.x device – Zune software is not launched. Retry after making sure that Zune software is launched.

[full screenshot here]

This shows that Zune will still be needed for connecting to Windows Phone 7.x devices, but not Windows Phone 8.

So my question would be: what will be the new link between Windows 8 & Windows Phone 8? Sadly I don’t know this yet, but be sure that I’ll let you all know if/when I found out.