Kinect TV?
Christopher Carter
Is Microsoft holding back on us?
As I reflected on the press and coverage of the 2011 CE Show, sub-titled "Its an App, App, App, App World!" it occurred to me that Microsoft has in its portfolio all of the technology, hardware and software, to launch a really cool platform that would revolutionize home entertainment.
If MSFT were to take the Surface device, flip that baby length wise horizontally, with out legs or a stand, so it can hang on a wall, manufacture this in a variety of sizes like a traditional TV, incorporate the Kinect motion sensing technology as well as all of the inputs and outputs on a traditional TV (HDMI, USB, Cable Card, video in & out, audio in & out, blah, blah, blah), and develop a user interface that can be controlled, get this, without a remote but with the motion of your hands, BAM!, you've got yourself one hot item. MSFT sold 8 million Kinect devices during the holidays. 8 MILLION! This integrated platform would make the consumer feel as if they are in a Matrix movie or an episode of CSI Miami with the ability to move items, your APPS, around the screen with the flick of a wrist and a point of your digits. What a paradigm breaker! And no more questions in the home about the location of the remote control or how to record a show on the DVR. This device would scare the life out of the traditional CE companies who are now focused on, you guessed it, incorporating APPS into their TVs! Enough of the Apps already! Time to move forward in the entertainment center of the home.
I see this as a breakthrough device and the next gen in living room entertainment. I'd buy one of these before I ever purchase a 3D TV. While they're at it, attach the X-Box to the platform and you have a complete home entertainment solution that can stream movies and TV shows to the "Display", not to mention play traditional video games. This is a killer platform, IMHO.
I don't want my TV to look like the screen of my smart phone when I turn it on. I want the main entertainment display in my home to offer a fuller and richer experience so I can sit in my favorite chair and be involved in my entertainment, like I'm Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in the Matrix or "H" trying to solve a case in South Beach. "Miss Boa Vista, do you have the results of the DNA samples collected at the crime scene?" I digress. Connect the surround sound and the man cave just got super sized. Tell me your boys won't be envious when they roll in for the big game and you're making things happen on the "display" with one hand while holding a chilly in the other. No spillage, please.
I am sure there are smart, visionary, folks working at MSFT - subject to debate and venom Apple fans, I know. If I can "connect" the dots, surely someone in Redbank already has. I certainly hope this concept is on the drawing board and will be revealed at the 2012 CE Show. And let's hope the teams within MSFT with the ability to create this visionary product and service get past internal barriers and execute this idea. I'm sure technical issues have to be overcome, perhaps in the creation of the UI, but the holiday season of 2010 proved the demand is in the market for a break though device that engages the consumer. Nintendo proved this with the Wii a few years ago. Kinect proved this again last year.
MSFT - you have the power, you have the technology, God knows you have the cash, now make it happen!