Microsoft Targets TVs in Latest Move Off Desktop
Thu January 8, 2004 12:19 AM ET
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Microsoft executives said the cost of building a Media Center Extender into a TV is about $30, and the bill to build a compatible set-top box is about $120, prices they hope will spur widespread adoption.
The company envisions PCs running Media Center software at the center of the home, with all other devices sharing data with it and relying on it for content. Researchers demonstrated a media browser that could organize photos and video and search by keywords, faces and even seasons.
Gates also said watches based on the company's Smart Personal Objects Technology, or SPOT, were immediately available from watch makers Fossil Inc. and Suunto.
Priced from $129 up, SPOT watches were first unveiled by Gates in his address at the same show a year ago and were supposed to have been available for Christmas.
The watches will gather data from more than 200 channels of information broadcast via radio spectrum that Microsoft has leased, covering the top 100 metropolitan areas and five of Canada's 10 largest cities. The data service, called MSN Direct, will cost $9.95 per month.
Microsoft executives said portable audio and video players running its software would be available from manufacturers such as Creative Technology Ltd. and Samsung in the second half of this year, starting at $399.
Devices running that software, announced as Media2Go a year ago and now called Portable Media Center, were supposed to have been on sale last Christmas.
A sample pocket-sized unit designed by Creative featured a simple design, with a black case, a centered screen and function buttons on either side. The interface is the same as those on Media Center PCs.
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