Looking to significantly increase its current 2 percent market share, Microsoft is planning an update for its Zune line, which is expected to help the company in its never-ending battle with Apple’s iPod.

The problem is that the Audio player market segment covered by Zune at this point represents the company’s hard work for the past two years, which means that a drastic change is needed in order to ensure a quicker response from the public.

Zune’s marketing head, Mr. Chris Stephenson, is considering several strategies for taking the product to the next level. “Fifteen percent [market share] would be great for us,” he said.

The company is setting up an update which will integrate Zune Marketplace to Xbox 360’s Marketplace. Zune’s development chief Joe Belfiore recently explained that the technical layers for the two online stores are mainly the same and that one of the obstacles is licensing the content that would be shared across the platforms. "As more and more people have more than one of those devices, then the cross-device scenarios become more important," he says. "Undoubtedly it is something you will see us do at some point in the not-too-distant future."

There are also several rumors about a Zune phone or a Zune-like Windows Mobile component getting ready for release but none of them have been confirmed so far.

Microsoft’s Zune division has a long way before reaching the company’s objectives and the sales campaigns will demand a lot of work and a strong commitment from the people involved.