Touchscreen table hits Australia

BY ASHER MOSES

Microsoft Australia has begun selling its A$21,000 (NZ$26,500) Surface touchscreen coffee table computer, which responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects and will soon be deployed in stores across the country.

The computers, which feature a 30-inch multi-touch touchscreen panel, are controlled by hand gestures like the iPhone and the technology found in the science fiction movie Minority Report.

ANZ, Curtin University and Lonely Planet have already signed up to deploy the technology in Australia and Microsoft expects thousands to be adopted by the retail, hospitality, education, automotive and financial services industries by year's end.

Developer nSquared, which has been designing Surface apps for the education industry, believes Surface will soon replace digital whiteboards in classrooms.

First unveiled in 2008, the machines have already been introduced into 19 markets around the world.

Some US restaurants and hotels - such as the Sheraton, Starwood and Harrah's chains - let customers order food directly, book entertainment and play music and games using the table.

Surface computers can also interact with non-digital objects placed on top of them, including digital cameras, mobile phones and business cards. For instance, photos could be sucked out of a camera, manipulated on the screen using touch and then shared over email.

In AT&T stores in the US, customers can compare mobile features and plans by placing handsets on the Surface screen.

"The goal here is to make the technology so natural that you don't even notice it," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division worldwide.

"It takes the digital world and analogue world and sort of merges them - you don't need a mouse, you don't need a keyboard; it's touch but it's touch at a whole new level."

An expensive proposition

The machines, which are sold directly to businesses by Microsoft, will initially cost A$21,000 for the commercial model and A$24,500 for the developer model.

Although the official launch was yesterday, Microsoft has shown off Surface in Australia before, with Lonely Planet announcing last year that it would have the tables in its new Sydney Airport store.

However, this failed to materialise as Microsoft was unable to supply the company with a Surface computer. Microsoft said supply was no longer an issue.

At the recent Australian Open in Melbourne, ANZ allowed punters to play games against each other on two Surface machines. It plans to use the computers for financial planning in its branches.

"This is a consumer technology but we're actually selling it through businesses and they're creating the services and applications that people are using on top of it," Bach said.

"It's about providing this magical wow experience that opens people up to a new way of interacting with technology that they've never experienced before."

Making computing more social

Michael Kordahi, developer evangelist at Microsoft Australia, said the Surface machine's 50 touch points made it a social device that multiple people could interact with at once.

He showed off several apps including a wine bar app that allows customers to flick though various wine choices in a natural way before placing an order. When the wine glass arrives and is placed on the tablet, the screen pulls up various information including suggestions on food that goes with that particular wine and details of the region the wine comes from.

Lonely Planet plans to use the technology in stores to allow customers to plan trips using the company's guide books.

Placing a cardboard "passport" on to the table enables users to drag videos, information and photos about their destination on to the passport, which can then be accessed later on a computer or mobile phone.

Curtin University is adopting Surface to explore new ways of having students engage and collaborate with each other. The university will be working with partners to develop Surface applications that can be used across all departments.

"We have a really strong focus on the concept of what is a next generation learning space ... we see the Surface as an enabling technology that will be quite pivotal for what universities and classrooms are all about - learning and enrichment," said Kim Wisniewski, senior systems engineer at Curtin University's future technology group.

Iain McDonald, managing director of digital marketing company Amnesia, says his was the first Australian organisation to receive Surface computers to experiment with. Amnesia business cards can be placed on the table, which then displays the person's social networking site content and other details.

"When you see people get around the table and touch it for the first time it's a very different experience. The object recognition is really something that nothing else offers on the market ... we've developed things like a car configurator for Audi where you play with elements of the car on the table," he said.

Significant developer support

There are already 250 partners worldwide creating apps for Surface, including four in Australia.

Object Consulting developed ANZ's app, while nSquared is one of Australia's largest Surface developers and has been working on apps for primary schools, high schools and universities.

Yesterday it showed off the Make Words app, a competitive game for primary school students.

"The only thing that limits the Surface unit is people's imaginations, so we could design and work with an entire curriculum that's in schools at the moment covering maths, geography, English," said Shirralee Willis, business development manager at nSquared.

Willis acknowledged that funding may be an issue for some schools but said she expected the first units to arrive in classrooms within the next few months.

At some Starwood and Sheraton hotels in the US, customers can pay for items by dropping a credit card on to the touchscreen, while those visiting stores of US telco AT&T can compare phone features and plans by placing two different phones on the table.

Casino giant Harrah's has introduced Surface computers at the Rio, which let patrons order drinks, make dinner reservations, book shows, watch YouTube videos, play touchscreen games and even flirt with people sitting at other tables.

At some hotels and restaurants, bills can be split by placing two cards on the table and dragging menu items onto the respective cards.

- © Fairfax NZ News