With the US launch of the multi-touch iPhone expected imminently, I am not surprised that Microsoft has upped the ante once more and outed it’s newest product – Microsoft Surface.
The technology that goes into this beautiful interface has been seen knocking around for a while. NYU’s Jeff Han demonstrated a similar prototype in 2006 at the annual TED conference in California and interest in the technology has been wide.
Microsoft’s package is noticeably low in Microsoft branding; a feature that has slipped over from the Zune (their media player, yet unseen in the UK) and something of a smart move.
The associated promotional site is neatly designed reflecting the product, and the logo is very suitable. The whole package seems to be another departure from what Microsoft came to represent until Apple started to make successful in-roads into digital media.
If Apple (or anyone else) had been planning on releasing anything similar, they’ve had some of the thunder stolen. It’s exactly what Steve Jobs did with the pre-announcement of the iPhone a number of months ago – the unveiling of the product months before a ship date (or even before being signed off by the looks of things) indicates a company scared that they might be beaten to it. Why else would you deviate from a tried-and-tested launch technique that whips your fans into a buying frenzy? Maybe they heard Microsoft we’re planning on releasing something big or similar soon and got spooked?
There have been rumours in recent months of the same touch technology used in the iPhone way well be ported in new Mac models, and we’ve still not seen exactly what Leopard, the next generation of Apple’s operating system can do.
It’s not like Microsoft have just copied an idea here either. It looks like they probably had the head start in terms of development (starting out as a gaming platform). They’ve got some brilliant innovation built in. Using their table top device, you can place “domino tokens”, devices and smart cards on the surface which the table can identify and interact with. The demonstration shows how this can be integrated into new forms of payment, direct marketing, organising, media viewing, file sharing and other experiences that we don’t currently encounter.
I think we are going see a new type of head-to-head we’ve not seen before between these two companies – each trying to break new markets first. We know they both have these technologies now, so it’s just seeing who uses it most effectively, first.
Visit the official Surface site or watch the CNET demo .