Microsoft's 'year like no other' with success of Xbox and Kinect

WITH THE public opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas about to get under way, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer took to the stage to deliver his keynote address.

There was much speculation in the lead-up to the address about what the Microsoft head would discuss. The successor to Windows 7, tablet PCs and Windows Phone 7’s success to date were all expected to be on the agenda.

What the industry got was an update on Windows Phone 7, a preview of Surface 2.0, and a new feature for the Xbox 360.

“2010 was a very, very exciting year for our company,” Mr Ballmer said. “We launched Windows Phone 7, Office 2010 and Kinect, and we introduced Internet Explorer 9 and Office 365. We saw great growth in our Bing and Azure Services and, with the amazing success of Windows 7, it has truly been a year like no other.”

Although no figures for Windows Phone 7 sales were given, Mr Ballmer said the company would continue to invest in the platform “aggressively”.

More than 5,500 applications are now available for the system.

The company said users were typically getting access to more than 100 new apps every 24 hours. More than 20,000 developers have registered with Microsoft.

“The reaction to the product has been great,” he said.

As speculated in recent days, the Microsoft chief executive announced Avatar Kinect, the company’s new gaming peripheral for the Xbox 360 that uses cameras to track body movement of players and translate that into movement on screen.

In addition to tracking your body, Kinect can now track features like your smile, your laugh and even the rise of your eyebrows, allowing you to completely control your Xbox Live Avatar.

Avatar Kinect will be available for free to all Xbox Live Gold members this spring.

Sales for the Xbox 360 have now reached more than 50 million units worldwide.

Microsoft also said it had beaten its own forecasts for Kinect shipments, with more than eight million shipped in the first 60 days worldwide.

The company also showed the new version of Surface, which has been slimmed down to four inches thick with new technology called PixelSense that uses infrared sensors across the screen to allow each pixel to act as a camera.

“Only the imagination limits what can be done with Windows PCs today: write on them, draw on them, hang them on the wall, touch them, use a wireless keyboard, play a game and much, much more,” Mr Ballmer said.

He also confirmed that a version of Windows 7 was being developed to work with ARM chips.

“Windows has always been, and will continue to be, about the breadth of hardware and software applications and innovation.

“Support for system-on-a-chip means that Windows will be everywhere on every kind of device without compromise; all the performance and flexibility of Windows on low-power, long-lasting devices.”