The forgotten interface

This weekend thousands of people around the world will open up a shiny new iPad, heralded as THE user experience paradigm shift in computing in the last five years. I’m sure it will be awesome.

Last night Microsoft UK held and event, which I’ll admit I did not attend, where they demo’d a few Surface based applications. One I believe for Heathrow Terminal 5, and the other for First Direct. I have no Idea what these actually are, but can imagine given the brands involved. The only consumer facing surface application I have experienced myself, and believe to be the only one of its kind actually ‘in the wild’, is that developed by Syzygy for O2 Germany. It’s slick, and what you’d expect from an ‘in store’ experience.

A few months back I sat through a demo of Surface technology by Microsoft themselves, it was nothing much more than the in ‘in the box’ apps, and some sweet moves using Bing maps. At the end of the demo I asked a fairly straightforward question about the future of the technology, but more specifically the hardware itself ‘When will I be able to buy this in Ikea embedded in a dining table for less than £500?’…. The MSFT guy responded with ‘Great question, I’ll get back to you’, needless to say we never spoke again. I think he thought I was slightly mental.

As I understand it, a Surface table costs about $14,000. If you have ever seen one they look like, and are the size of, one of the old school sit down arcade cabinets. In fact the form factor is almost identical, minus the control pad either end, obviously. It’s not a real touch screen either, inside is a fairly standard PC and some cameras that actually track movement across ‘the surface’… arguably the device itself is still what one could class as ‘proof of concept’, and only in the domain of ‘ branded applications’ given the price tag.

Back to the iPad… As of this weekend the world will have access to a set of ‘mass market’ human computer interface as never previously experienced:

Personal:

• The standard mouse and keyboard of the desktop / laptop
• The touch based, ‘phone scale’ mobile interface of the iPhone & Android
• The touch based, ‘pad scale’ mobile interface of the iPad

Shared:

• The communal ‘motion based’ game interface of the Wii
• The mouse and keyboard / remote control of the TV connected EPC

This troubles me. While I love my iPhone for my commute, playing Wii tennis with daughter, and viewing my Flickr stream through my HD TV, my home based human computer interface still lacks. It lacks in that it is not a truly shared, accessible useful experience (yes internet through the TV is shared, but there is still only one mouse). The Wii IS communal, but as the usefulness of the platform is limited, as is the content, I’m discounting it.

Many an evening I have sat around my dining table, looking at one or two laptops, organising a holiday, a wedding, or some other complex family event. I’ll cut to the chase: Why can I not buy a table in Ikea with surface like technology built into it? Think of the experience. Think of how different such tasks would be. Think how different doing homework would be. Think how different planning a dinner party menu might be. Think how different planning a family holiday might be. Think how different breakfast might be. So OK, I don’t want a screen in front of me all day, nor do I necessarily want one while I’m eating my dinner, but that’s where this devices amazing range of accessories come in, like the iTable Cloth. Old school, but effective, and available in Ikea for £10.

So I would expect getting a device to the sub £500 price point would take some time. But it’s what we need, and it’s being ignored. It’s the opportunity someone needs to take. The dining table is THE perfect human computing form factor for the home. It can sit multiple people, it’s close range enough to type on if need be, to touch, yet long-range enough for ’sit back’ activities. It’s big enough to allow lots of people to touch at once. It’s big enough to do dual or quad ’split screen’. It’s timely, for breakfast news delivery. It’s in the ‘heart of the home’, the kitchen. It is perfect, but utterly forgotten.

Microsoft, this is Ingvar Kamprad, Ingvar Kamprad this is Microsoft.