Microsoft Skims the Marketing Surface
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Finally, Microsoft does product marketing right. |
Overnight, Microsoft announced "Surface," a new product and technology platform where people and devices interact with a flat computing table. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates showed off a prototype of the technology, then referred to as "Play Table," at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show.
Microsoft has chosen the right time, venue and product to showcase Surface's capabilities. It's a masterful stroke that's sure to generate buzz and a little bit of controversy.
- Timing. Microsoft announced Surface just weeks before the release of Apple's iPhone. End users would interact with Microsoft's first Surface product or iPhone using hand and finger gestures. The concepts are similar and natural. Human beings are tool users, and hands are the primary instruments. The concept of hand manipulation is at least as old as Homo sapiens. The film "Minority Report" gives a futuristic view of how the hands could manipulate video scenes.
Is Surface Microsoft's answer to iPhone? The answer is yes and no. The "yes" relates to timing—Microsoft is bringing a touch-and-motion sensitive technology to market that could be used in many products, including cell phones. The "no" is the history. Microsoft researchers started working on Surface as early as 2001, as much as six years before Apple unveiled iPhone. Surface is not a reaction to iPhone as a technology. However, Surface probably is a marketing response with respect to timing.
- Venue. The D Conference is an ideal venue for Surface. One reason is Apple. CEO Steve Jobs will speak at the D Conference and join Gates on stage tonight for a Q&A. But both Steves have keynotes, with Ballmer scheduled to precede Jobs. Ballmer will be in position to showcase Surface before Jobs can take the stage and bellow on about the highly anticipated iPhone. It's brilliant marketing one-upmanship on Microsoft's part.
D Conference is also a great venue because of the attendees, which typically includes a Who's Who list of top CEOs; these guys have brokered mergers at past D Conferences. Unlike iPhone, Surface is not clearly a mass-market device. The technology is, for now, more for companies providing services to consumers. Ballmer will show Surface to a broad spectrum of potential Surface licensees. Tip to Microsoft: Hand out "Minority Report" DVDs with Surface marketing materials to D Conference attendees.
- Product. Microsoft is smart to develop its own Surface product, which gets something in the market sooner, rather than waiting around for hardware partners. The Surface table also can act as prototype for other manufacturers, while giving real customers a real product they can customize for their needs. Early partners include Starwood Hotels and T-Mobile USA. That said, Microsoft has no immediate plans to license Surface for use by other hardware manufacturers.
The product comes from Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, the same folks responsible for the hugely successful Xbox and maybe someday successful Zune. The division deserves kudos for some smart marketing—some of it viral—for both products. The Surface Web site superbly highlight's the technology's benefits. It's a bit staid for my taste, but nevertheless hits the right points.
The release of a real product—and from Microsoft's division with experience doing end-to-end hardware and software—signals changes ahead. While Microsoft has solely relied on third parties for PC hardware, the company is willing to go it alone for other product categories. This is a new product category, one where Microsoft provides all the pieces.
"Right now, it's very much a Microsoft end-to-end solution," Kyle Warnick, Microsoft's Surface senior marketing communications manager, told me this morning. He said the approach would allow service providers to "deliver high-quality and consistent experience."
The blog and broader news media reaction to this announcement will be interesting. If Jobs had made the announcement, it would have been heralded as another breathtaking Apple innovation—that "one more thing"—that sets the company apart from others. Will Microsoft get as much fanfare or credit? Probably not. Should Microsoft deserve big buzz as innovator. Probably yes.
Comments (16)
Sorry to break the news, but I don't want to make hand gestures like in the Movie Minority report. I don't want to talk to my computer in Star Trek. These are geek toys that have little real application in a modern work place.
Most of work in small cubes. The idea of an office full of people standing up and waving their hands around like a wind mill in a wind storm is too funny to contemplate.
Posted by just a drone | May 30, 2007 11:25 AM
Sorry to break the news, but I don't want to make hand gestures like in the Movie Minority report. (And, I don't want to talk to my computer as in Star Trek.) These are geek toys that have little real application in a modern work place.
Most of work in small cubes. The idea of an office full of people standing up and waving their hands around like a wind mill in a wind storm is too funny to contemplate.
Posted by just a drone | May 30, 2007 11:25 AM
Marketing is about product, place, price, and promotion. Unless all four elements are executed correctly, the marketing isn't going to be effective. Take Zune as an example. Microsoft took a pretty good product, filled the retail channel, but totally screwed up on pricing and promotion. The result is obvious.
Posted by Ed T | May 30, 2007 1:14 PM
@just a drone:
The product is not intended for IT environments or offices.
Get it? T-Mobile, if and when it deploys it, won't use it in its IT offices or cubicles, but in retail stores.
Posted by sk | May 30, 2007 2:02 PM
Apple gets credit because it brings innovation and cool technology to consumers. The iPhone will provide MultiTouch technology to Joe User in just a few weeks.
Microsoft Surface is not for consumer devices, and appears to be be very hard to bring to the consumer. There's a reason the whole thing sits on a table, it requires a projector and cameras and a barcode reader to work. This is fine for the target market, and neat stuff, but doesn't mean much to the consumer market in general.
While the Surface FUD machine has already begun rolling, it that doesn't change the fact you won't be seeing a surface phone or PC for a long time, if ever.
Posted by Tom | May 30, 2007 2:02 PM
Tommy,
MS Surface is more than a big Phone. The projectors and cameras in the device are not for implementing MultiTouch technology, but to expand its uses.
Posted by sk | May 30, 2007 2:09 PM
I am suprised that some people can not see the potential of this technology, or maybe their anti-microsoft sentiments don't let them see beyond their nose..
Posted by evan | May 30, 2007 3:58 PM
Ummm, other than the timing and the fact that both have touch screens, I dont understand why people feel the need to compare the two. ..these are not even similar products.
That said, I think the possibilities for the surface are quite exciting. If the commodification can lower this to HD TV prices, I will be getting one for my living room at home. I might even cosider it for $4-5k. I would love to be able to use this for navigating my home media library.
PLUS: Think of the axis and allies games you could have!! (never having to setup the board!)
Posted by Matt | May 30, 2007 5:37 PM
To tell you the truth, they did not invent a single thing (see http://schestowitz.com/Weblog/archives/2007/05/31/linux-surface/ ), but they sure created a lot of hype (waves).
Posted by Roy Schestowitz | May 31, 2007 5:02 AM
sk said:
"MS Surface is more than a big Phone. The projectors and cameras in the device are not for implementing MultiTouch technology, but to expand its uses."
They do not expand its uses, they _are_ the touch screen technology. In fact, Surface does NOT use a touch screen at all. It's transparent glass, and the cameras are used to "see" and then act to touches. A projector, an infrared field that overlaps the projected image, five cameras to detect movement, and a barcode reader for some of the cooler demo stuff, are all involved.
I think Microsoft Surface is cool. I think it is great for the target market and Microsoft could have a big money-maker on their hands. I think its potential for cool applications is great.
None of that changes the fact that its not likely to be scaled and adopted to consumer devices anytime soon. This isn't about being anti-Microsoft, it's simply a realistic assessment given the technologies involved.
Posted by Tom | May 31, 2007 2:28 PM
Roy Loves Suse
If the Linux version (as per your video) is so good why oh why has no one heard of it !
(Up until this video of yours that is!)
And if Linux had it ages ago then why isn't on the market yet !
And why until now do you tell "we had it first" ! If MS copied the Linux idea, why did not anyone in the "Tech Industry" say anything at all about this Linux one ????
I am sure that Joe would have said something about it, and he hasn't !!!!
Posted by Neil | May 31, 2007 11:33 PM
as i have the chance that everyone have different and variety of knowledge about new tech, i wonder if ms surface has or will have game applications, like war craft etc. thanks to everyone...
Posted by osman | June 25, 2007 8:39 AM
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Posted by realgeorge39 | September 13, 2007 12:29 AM
I didn't realise it required a projector, I thought it was all on multi-touch screen technology.
Jobs made me laugh on the 'multi-touch technology' quirk, because Microsoft was sporting it as some new thing, while Jobs retorted by saying, “by the way, it's been around for years.”
It's obviously targeted to specific markets, and that's good. No one wants this thing in the office cube, but it would certainly be useful both in the boardroom and the customer reception down stairs. While you enjoy a coffee with your friends, you can exchange photos or view the holiday photos right there on the table. It's definitely going to change the way retail – and the travel industry – works. It's not the iPhone, that's for sure, but is certainly a wonderful technology and idea.
Posted by vacuum cleaners | December 18, 2007 7:24 AM
Is it already out? I wanna know the price of it, someone tell me info ASAP! thanks
Posted by Nicholas Wapachee | February 1, 2008 3:38 PM
Wow! Do these people ever run out of great ideas? Where are they getting their creativity? It’s just like they’re always on the move.
Posted by oil art paintings | February 14, 2008 11:16 AM