Tonight’s CES Press Conference began with an auto-tuned montage looking back on Microsoft’s press conferences at CES. The company began by discussing Windows Phone, walking through its user interface including voice integration, contact groups and more.
The Nokia Lumia 710 was announced for release in the U.S. this Wednesday, January 11th. The Lumia 800 was confirmed to be coming in the next few months. Microsoft unveiled the Nokia Lumia 900, the company’s newest Windows Phone. The HTC Titan II was also revealed, which will be available on the AT&T 4G LTE network, with a 16 megapixel camera built in and 4.7 inch OLED display.
On the PC front, Microsoft revealed that 1.3 billion Windows machines are currently in use before demoing Windows 8. Windows 8 was presented as “Windows reimagined,” designed to work with touch or with a mouse and keyboard. Microsoft showed off a “picture password” used to unlock Windows, as well as a new tile interface reminiscent of Windows Phone 7 and the new Xbox Live dashboard. Full-screen Metro-style apps were revealed, using every pixel of the screen. Windows 8 will run on ARM and X86.
The new Windows Store was also shown off, featuring free apps, paid apps and app demos. The store will open worldwide in late February, in every language Windows is available in. App functionality will include “semantic zoom,” which allows a user to shrink tiles for a wider view. Apps can share data seamlessly, and all are full screen. The next Windows 8 developer build will be coming in late February. Ballmer called Windows 7 the most successful operating system of all time, and revealed that every Windows 7 PC will be ready for Windows 8 on day one.
In discussing Xbox 360, Microsoft revealed that Xbox 360 has over 66 million Xbox users and 40 million Xbox Live subscribers. The company also revealed that over 18 million Kinect units have been shipped. Demos were shown for new video apps, including Verizon FiOS, with 26 channels. Partnerships were announced with Comcast and News Corp (including Fox TV shows like Fringe and Family Guy, as well as content from the Wall Street Journal and IGN). Kinect integration was also shown with TV, allowing users to interact with shows. Kinect was also announced for Windows on February 1st and is already supported by over 200 companies, including Toyota, American Express and more.
For the full rundown of announcements, be sure to check out our archived live blog. To stay up to date on CES news, make sure to follow our full coverage of the show.
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