Microsoft is preparing to discontinue Microsoft Points, the virtual currency used to buy content on the Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live, according to a report. In other Microsoft news, the company said it would cancel its Mix developer conference.

Microsoft is preparing to discontinue Microsoft Points, the virtual currency used to buy content on the Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live, according to a report.

Inside Mobile Apps reports that Microsoft will be scrapping its Points system in favor of real currencies - pounds sterling in the United Kingdom, for example, or dollars in the United States. Microsoft hasn't commented on what it calls rumors and speculation.

The transition will take place at the end of 2012, according to the site.

Microsoft Points are currently used to purchase games and media content on Xbox Live, the rent movies and games on the Xbox or the Zune Marketplace, the PC and Windows Phone - but, as Inside Mobile Apps points out, Xbox games are purchased in dollars, and the add-on content can be purchased via Points. The site also notes that the ratio between Points and dollars isn't always clear, and that users are forced to purchase Points in packs, either seaprately or as part of Xbox Live Gold memberships.

Microsoft Points can be purchased for $4.99 for 400 Points, $9.99 for 800 Points, on up to $74.99 for 6,000 Points.

If Microsoft does phase out Points, it likely means that Microsoft has either developed with or partnered with a payment processor to develop a micropayments scheme.

"On the original Xbox LIVE, transactions had to be around five dollars U.S., the minimum for most credit cards," Microsoft notes. "But with Microsoft Points, the price for most anythingmaps, skins, levels, demos, and morecan be much lower than that. That's a big deal. For example, say you want to get one of the new maps for your favorite shooter, but you're not that interested in a few of the others. Lucky for you, Marketplace can offer each map individually for just a few points. Now that's savings."

On a more substantive note, Microsoft also said that it would discontinue its Mix developer conference.

"As part of that reflection, we have decided to merge MIX, our spring web conference for developers and designers, into our next major developer conference, which we will host sometime in the coming year," Tim O'Brien, general manager of platform and developer evangelism, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. "I know a number of folks were wondering about MIX, given the time of year, so we wanted to make sure there's no ambiguity, and be very clear there will be no MIX 2012."

For more, see PCMag's top 10 Xbox games of 2011 slideshow above.