Microsoft will mass produce giant touchscreens that could be used for office or retail applications, a company executive told a partner conference in Australia this week.
Steven Elop, Microsoft’s vice president of devices, told attendees at Microsoft’s Australian Partner Conference that the company was gearing up to “mass produce” displays made by Perceptive Pixel (PPI), a company Microsoft acquired in 2012, according to ZDNet.
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Elop didn’t reveal any details about pricing or distribution at the conference. But to sell the products in quantity under the Microsoft brand, the company would have to find ways to get prices down. The PPI touchscreens can be as large as 82 inches and originally cost up to $80,000. A more affordable 55-inch model currently sells for about $7,500.
As long ago as 2007, Microsoft showed prototypes of coffeetable-sized touch displays, and previously, Microsoft executives have suggested using the screens as wall-mounted displays to make meetings more effective, as a sort of super whiteboard. But now that the technology has been shifted to Elop’s Devices team, it’s being viewed as something more like a supersized tablet computer.
That could position the devices to be used as wall-mounted virtual storefronts that could be set up in ways similar to pop-up stores in shopping malls or other areas. The touchscreens could also be used as oversize kiosks for giving customers access to ecommerce sites from within brick-and-mortar stores.
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