AT&T Stores To Install Microsoft 'Surface' Interactive Table Top
2 Apr 2008
AT&T Stores in 5 locations across the US, will be the first to install the new Microsoft touch-screen interactive 30" tabletop display - 'Surface' - on 17th April.
Customers will be able to place one of eight handsets on the display, and the computer will immediately recognize the phone and present information on the device. Placing another phone on Surface will allow users to trigger side-by-side cost and feature comparisons of the handsets.
As well as general media on the phones, AT&T is touting the ability for customers to view an interactive network coverage map. By using two fingers to pinch or expand the map, users can zero in on their homes, offices and schools to ensure AT&T provides them with good cellular coverage. In the near future, AT&T plans to allow users to customize their phones through Surface by dragging icons of ring tones, graphics and videos over to their handset.
The roll out will then continue through May - and should eventually reach all 2,000 outlets.
AKA COMMENT
With Apple having the upper hand in the 'wow' factor - Microsoft's 'Surface' product was designed to recapture some of the limelight. That Microsoft missed its initial launch deadline last year was good news for AT&T - as they had initially signed a launch deal with T-Mobile retail.
While Microsoft is first targeting commercial uses, it envisions Surface eventually making its way into homes, replacing the living room coffee table. The iPhone, Nintendo's Wii and Surface are all part of the larger trend toward more natural gesture-based interfaces - that bypass keyboards and mice and evolve the 'man-machine' interface to voice activiation, touch, gestures and body movements.
One of the first major applications is across digital signage - as these type of interfaces have a 'wow' factor with the general public that brands are keen to attach themselves to.