In a blog post reflecting on whether Microsoft needs to reach further into the consumer markets, Mary Jo Foley ponders:
“The wall-size, vertical touch screen (a Microsoft Research-Office Labs joint venture known as “TouchWall”) — which Gates touted as the “whiteboard of the future” — looks a heck of a lot more compelling than the Surface consumer-focused prototypes I’ve seen.”
Come on? Microsoft Surface is too consumer oriented? No way. It’s supposedly in the $5,000+ range. That’s no consumer device. Besides being expensive, it’s also bulky. Yes, consumers are interested in multi-touch technology–Check out Seth Sandler’s blog to explore why. But this doesn’t make it consumer focused. From an engineering standpoint, if Surface were consumer oriented, it’d probably would be more desk or table-top like–more like a piece of artful furniture than rugged kiosk.
Now in terms of cost, it appears that TouchWall has the edge. But let’s be clear that there are people on the Net, just like me, that are building homebrew multi-touch “surfaces” for thousands less than Microsoft can offer their multi-touch box. That’s in part the difference between a public use box and one meant for someone’s home.
Also, people–outside of maybe touch enthusiasts like Lora and myself–aren’t going to be rushing to put 60″ rear-projected multi-touch screens in their rooms. They’ll take up too much space and restrict lighting too much.
Now, will there be enthusiasts that build their own. You bet. Just like those building their own multi-touch tables. But this makes neither consumer.
One last thing: Over the years I’ve seen technology time and time again come from the “consumer” side–meaning that individuals often adopt technology first. You can call these individuals consumers–even those working in large corporations. The key to success though of many of these advances, yes, has come from corporate purchases, who are often not as financially cautious over the mid-level dollar amounts. So being a product that consumers are interested in is a good thing–especially for new technology. To only focus on mature technologies for businesses or for high-priced products that only large corporations can justify is certain to cap market opportunities though. This is not a good path to take.