Microsoft team introduces software, hardware partnerships, slate PCs and give sneak peaks at Halo Reach and Project Natal
Omar El Akkad Technology Reporter
Las Vegas — Globe and Mail Update
The unofficial kickoff to the Consumer Electronics
Show began late Wednesday night, as the President and CEO of Microsoft took to the stage in Las Vegas.
Steve Ballmer gave the first keynote talk at CES, using the occasion to present a bullish view of the industry's outlook in the coming decade, pinning that view on the global middle class, which he sees expanding from 1 billion to 4 billion people in coming decades.
“2009 was a year of unprecedented economic turbulence,” he told a crowd of thousands. But he added that the technology industry had nonetheless made “an ongoing impact on the lives of people around the world”.
Thousands of industry representatives, reporters and Microsoft staff members crowded the Hilton Centre conference room for the event.
Mr. Ballmer's speech was among the most anticipated at CES this year, partly because his reputation for showmanship, but also because of Microsoft's importance in the tech industry.
Anticipation was heightened shortly before the keynote thanks to rumours that Mr. Ballmer would unveil a new Microsoft tablet.
But there was no such device in store. Instead, Mr. Ballmer showed off a number of third-party touchscreen and tablet-like “slate computers” running Windows operating systems.
Much of the Microsoft talk centred on home entertainment. Presenters showed off everything from streaming movies on Windows Mobile-based smartphones to TV on the PC – while displaying the latter, Microsoft executives said Windows software would allow users to record four high-definition channels simultaneously.
Microsoft also showcased a number of upcoming games for its Xbox360 system, and closed the keynote with a video about Project Natal, a hardware and software system that recognizes the body's movements without any device touching the body, making for fully controller-less gaming. The company says Natal will be available in late 2010.
But the Microsoft keynote contained no iconic product unveilings – Natal had been shown off before, though without a release date. Instead of a big announcement to try to steal the spotlight from Google's Nexus smart phone or Apple's much-hyped tablet, Microsoft chose to further promote its Windows 7 operating system, which is just starting its product cycle.
Microsoft also said it forged a new search distribution deal with HP that will make the company's Bing search site and MSN.com content portal the default search engine and Web home page on new HP computers sold in 42 countries.
The software maker has signed similar deals in the past, including one with HP in 2008 that made Live Search, Bing's predecessor technology, the default on computers sold in the U.S. and Canada. People who buy such computers can still change their preferred search engine to something else.
Ballmer announced a new version of Mediaroom, its technology that delivers TV over the Internet on such services as AT&T Inc.'s U-verse system. The newest version of Mediaroom will let subscribers watch live and recorded TV and video-on-demand on Windows computers and phones and through Xbox 360 consoles, in addition to a set-top box. It will work over regular broadband, not just special fibre connections.
CES officially kicks off tomorrow, as about 110,000 people descend on Las Vegas to look at some 20,000 new products.
With files from The Associated Press
The Globe and Mail
