Microsoft announces commercial availability of Surface in Australia

Microsoft announces commercial availability of Surface in Australia

9 February, 2010 | Sydney, Australia

Today, Microsoft Australia announced the commercial availability of Microsoft® Surface®. Microsoft Surface is a major advancement in computing that moves beyond the traditional user interface to a more natural and intuitive way of interacting with digital content through multi-user, multi-touch experiences. In Australia there has already been widespread interest from local partners and businesses, including Curtin University and ANZ bank, who intend to deploy this new technology.

Microsoft Surface provides a table-like display that responds to touch, natural hand gestures and placement of real-world objects including digital cameras, mobile phones and even business cards. With a large 76cm (30-inch) display, 360-degree, horizontal user interface, Microsoft Surface represents a fundamental change in the way consumers can interact with digital content, simultaneously recognising multiple touch points to allow for a greater collaborative experience.

Announcing the commercial availability of Surface in Australia, Robbie Bach, president, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft Corp., said: “We’ve experienced great momentum to date with Microsoft Surface in the U.S. and in EMEA. We’re excited to now expand into Australia, our first Asia-Pacific market, and provide new, collaborative and more meaningful ways for organisations to engage with and delight their customers, students or constituents. It’s great to be working with local partners who have already developed for and explored the possibilities of Surface and we are committed to their success.”

Australian Organisations Embrace Surface

Surface is ideal for a multitude of businesses such as retail, hospitality and financial services that will be able to engage, entertain and inform customers in new, collaborative ways. In addition, Surface will help public sector organisations including schools, councils and healthcare facilities to connect people with important and complex data, while integrating rich interactive content into their everyday lives.

Tracey Fellows, managing director, Microsoft Australia, said: “Since the unveiling of Microsoft Surface, we’ve received strong interest from Australian organisations who are looking to embrace the next evolution in computing to engage with their stakeholders, and from developers who want to create applications that were not possible with other technologies.”

Microsoft Surface now provides Australian institutions and businesses such as Curtin University and ANZ new ways to connect with their students and customers.

“Microsoft Surface represents an innovative new way for people to interface with technology,” said Peter Nikoletatos, chief information officer, Curtin University of Technology. “We are pleased to be among the first of Microsoft’s customers in Australia to embrace this exciting technology. Surface will foster new collaboration opportunities and provide an engaging educational tool that will extend the university’s teaching, learning and research capabilities. Surface is not only a breakthrough technology; it’s also a breakthrough in collaboration.”

ANZ group general manager innovation, Peter Dalton, said: “At ANZ, we’re exploring a number of innovative technologies, including Microsoft Surface, because we’re constantly working to make banking simpler for our customers. We will be using the experience gained from using Microsoft Surface to work out how we can use touch and surface-based technologies to make managing money simpler and more exciting.”

Growing Partner Ecosystem

As content and applications are necessary to provide the real context of the Microsoft Surface experience, developers and partners are critical to enabling unique scenarios for commercial and government customers. Four Australian organisations have already joined the global Surface partner program, which has over 250 partners from 18 countries, in developing content and applications for Surface. This robust partner ecosystem will help provide a wide variety of new Microsoft Surface applications and compelling solutions to meet Australian customer needs.

Local partners:

Amnesia Razorfish, founder, Iain McDonald said: “Microsoft Surface offers a fantastic opportunity for brands to innovate in the digital space. We’ve found that in retail environments, Surface is one of the most effective in-store digital experiences you can get and I have no doubt Australians will be impressed when they get their hands on this device.”

nsquared, director, Dr Neil Roodyn said: “At nsquared we believe Microsoft Surface represents a new way for technology to enhance face-to-face engagement. It is fantastic that we can now deliver these solutions to customers in Australia.”

Object Consulting, chief operating officer, Dr Julian Edwards said: “Surface forms part of our multi-touch solution set, which includes Surface and Windows 7 through to touch enabled mobile devices. Our ANZ solution demonstrates how we are using Surface to provide organisations with a unique, engaging and integrated multi-touch experience for their customers.”

Automatic Studio, user experience consultant and director, Shane Morris said: “The amazing thing about Microsoft Surface is that it removes barriers between organisations and their customers. Surface enables a more natural conversation with customers, without the intimidation of a traditional screen, keyboard and mouse.”

Note to editors


Australian Microsoft Surface launch – Video News Release

A video news release featuring comment from Michael Kordahi, Developer Evangelist Microsoft and Dr Neil Roodyn from nSquared.

For further information regarding sales enquiries please visit our

Microsoft Surface

site or one of our Surface partners in Australia:


Amnesia Razorfish


nSquared Solutions


Object Consulting

The latest Microsoft Surface experience is available in the new 40 inch Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface that can be used as a table, on the wall, or embedded in other fixtures or furniture.

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Alice Ridgway

Howorth


[email protected]

(02) 8281 3833

Tags: Surface, Touch, Robbie Bach, Launch

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