The Xbox 360 console is one of the most popular in the world, managing to outsell its main rival, the PlayStation 3, while still putting up a good fight against the Nintendo Wii, which is currently top dog, at least according to console sales charts.

But if there is one part of the console market that has eluded Microsoft, it's the portable gaming one, where Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP are reigning supreme. What's worse, the arch rival of the Redmond-based corporation, Apple, is making quite a lot of progress these days with its iPhone/iPod Touch devices.

Recently speaking with Kikizo, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Shane Kim has revealed that the company has had a few plans about a portable console, but that it is really a matter of “when” to kick off development and really announce such a thing.

“For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when', because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like... Project Natal. So we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... will extend to other platforms. No question about it.”

When asked about the current state of the mobile game market and how all of the other rivals of Microsoft were doing, Kim revealed that there was a place down the line for the Xbox brand. “Well, I do, and especially with respect to Live. We talked about Live Anywhere a few years ago. Live is the connective tissue. You're starting to see that now - we integrate Netflix, we integrate Facebook, we integrate Twitter - because we understand that customers don't want an island experience, they want to be connected to the rest of their lives.”

Kim then concluded: “So the question will be, how do we enter into that market - do we do our own device, do we create our own phone - that's a question for the company itself - do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path which is that path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera. But believe me, we understand the importance of that device in people's lives.”

Would you be interested in a possible Xbox-branded portable console or do you think that, given the current situation in the handheld gaming market, enough is enough? Leave us a comment with your thoughts.