New Age Appliances

I'm pretty excited about the latest consumer tech products I've seen from Apple and Microsoft. Although they seem to target slightly different segments, both have new offerings which push user interface and interaction to a new level.

iPhone

Early this year, I watched the Macworld video where Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. I was blown away. It was easy to see the new possibilities offered by this device. I mean, the phone I have now offers many advanced features that are clumsy and frustrating to use (web access, email, text messaging, etc) . The iPhone makes these tasks intuitive (and it looks fun). As the average user gets a hold of this, I'm guessing we'll see a spike in web traffic as mobile computing goes mainstream (sort of like what the iPod did for digital music). It will forever change the way people interact with the Internet and our products.

Microsoft Surface Computing

Yesterday I watched a video demoing Microsoft Surface Computing. I don't know if I'd want one of these in my home, but the retail possibilities were unbelievable. Having a system that can recognize objects from the physical world (credit card, phone, camera, *wine glass*) and appropriately interact with these objects is astonishing. I can't wait until one of these devices make it to a retail outlet near me... or I could plan a trip to Vegas.

Common Ground

Technology-wise, both products leverage similar technology - multi-touch displays and stunning user interfaces. Where they both excel, though, is in delivering an incredible user experience - and that's what will make them successful.

Discussion

What new technology or user experiences have you excited?

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