Microsoft Mystery Product Could Be Anything (or Nothing)
By Jared Newman | Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 9:29 am
Okay Microsoft, I’ll bite.
The company’s doing a striptease of some unidentified hardware product, revealing a rendered image piece-by-piece through its Microsoft Hardware Twitter feed. The first image didn’t show much, but cobble it together with the second one (courtesy of JR Raphael at PCWorld), and you start to get a better picture — of something.
Maybe there’s a lot more going on in the area we can’t see, or perhaps we won’t be able to tell much of anything without flipping the device over. A new piece is promised soon, but Microsoft’s only hint for now is a slogan: “Don’t be so touchy … flat is where it’s at.”
I think it’s too thick to be a tablet, and too long to be a laptop (assuming the side with the Microsoft logo flips open), and in any case it’s probably wrong to assume such grand ambitions. Microsoft Hardware describes itself as the division that “creates the mice, keyboards, LifeCams and gaming peripherals that make working, playing and staying connected on your PC easier,” so I’m thinking peripheral rather than full-fledged computing device.
My best guess? A touch-sensitive remote for home theater PCs, but I’m still perplexed by the change in material near the top part of the device.
Actually, it kind of looks like my last cellphone, an old flip phone from Samsung:
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11 Comments For This Post
August 4th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Multi-touch trackpad, in line with Apple's recent announcement.
August 4th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Is it a foldable keyboard?
August 4th, 2010 at 10:45 am
It could even be a boat! You know how much we’ve wanted one of those.
August 4th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Project Natal-like hand gesture recognition interface for windows-N. That fits the "don't be so touchy". Going for something that is great in concept is microsoft's MO. Unfortunately, they rarely get the implementation right and even less often get it to market.
I'm not able to divine anything for the "flat's where it's at" part of the tease line. Maybe it detects your hands on a flat surface (desktop, for instance)
August 4th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Oh my god! Could it be! A WORKING COMPUTER!!!
August 4th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Maybe not.
August 4th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I am hoping that it is a windows 7 phone, and a very good one at that. Microsoft did not get to where they are in terms of world-wide domination of the PC market and technologies, by not having marketing savvy as well. This mystery product is probably being kept under wraps for good reason. it probably has tremendous capabilities and repercussions for its competitors.
August 4th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
“Don’t be so touchy … flat is where it’s at.”
Ah Microsoft. I see you haven't lost your knack for creating horrible slogans.
August 5th, 2010 at 6:56 am
a windows 7 phone
August 10th, 2010 at 6:44 am
All hints lead me to a windows-based mobile phone. but then again, that's too much of a giveaway so it could be something else.
August 19th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Microsoft would dominate the world of mobile.