Steve Balmer on The iPod: "Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months."

Steve Balmer took the time to chat with Telis Demos for Fortune. Of the interview, the portion about Apple's iPod is especially interesting.

Verbatim from the Fortune interview:

"Demos: Do you have an iPod?
Ballmer: No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod.

Demos: Think you can you crack the iPod market?
Ballmer: It's going to take an innovative proposition. In five years are people really going to carry two devices? One device that is their communication device, one device that is music? There's going to be a lot of opportunities to get back in that game. We want to be in that game. Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months."

Without a doubt, competing with the iPod is going to require a bit of innovation, especially since Apple keeps coming out with new versions so often, however, from the words of Mr. Balmer, we can deduce that there will be Microsoft announcements in this area about the time that Vista ships. That having been said, it would be anyone's guess as to when we can actually expect these announcements to turn into an actual product� probably around the time that Vista ships. With any luck, the kids will not be misbehaving by then and will stay away from iPods and Google.