The coffee table of the distant future is helping people pick out cell phone plans in the immediate future. Microsoft's “Surface” is a high-tech surface that uses computers, cameras, and all sorts of innovations underneath in order to recognize objects you place on top.
From there, you can manipulate images and information related to that object with gestures kind of like the way you would on an iPhone.
Just about a full year after Microsoft unveiled Surface as a prototype, five AT&T stores across the U.S. have become the first to use the system as a way to help customers make their next purchase.
The large-sized tabletop tablet, Microsoft’s Surface, makes business interactions more efficient and could replace the family PC. Technology reporter Adam Balkin filed the following report.
“To be honest, all the phones on the wall are kinda old-fashioned now after we introduced these guys,” said AT&T salesperson Jose Espinoza. “Basically you come into our store and you can check out our coverage map. Our coverage map used to be on a little pamphlet, now you can zoom in, zoom out, wherever you live or work and see how adequate our coverage is in your area.”
“Once we've established we have adequate coverage for your needs, we can just place any of our selected handsets at the moment onto the table and the phone sort of introduces itself,” continued Espinoza. “[It] gives you a couple of options around it to check out the major features of the handset, accessories that can complement the phone, the rate plans, as well as colors available. So instead of running to the back eight different times for eight different colors, put one phone down and just drag and drop the color and just see it on the touch display.”
Initially, Surface will be primarily used in stores like AT&T as a high-tech sales tool, but Microsoft sees it as part of the future of home computing. Some day, something like Surface could possibly replace the home PC.
Its features lend itself to home use. In one demonstration, a digital camera was placed on Surface, and the tool immediately pulled up all its pictures.
“Surface computing in general is the most exciting innovation in interface design that I have seen in years,” said Lance UIanoff of PC Magazine. “This is a think/do interface and that is the future of interface design. It is thinking about what you want to do, doing it, and having it work just the way you expect it. It's basically very task-driven and it configures itself based on whatever you're doing, so I can see people saying, 'That is my computer of choice.'”
Other big-name retailers like Starwood Hotels and T-Mobile are planning Surface launches by the end of the year. AT&T said its next step may include allowing customers to set phones they own on the surface, and then they can drag into it new ringtones, images or even entire service plans.