Microsoft disappoints at CES, as televisions and ultrabooks dominate

Televisions and ultrabooks have dominated the first few days of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but the overall mood of the show has been disappointment after Microsoft delivered a lacklustre keynote that was big on style but lacked substance.

The keynote itself featured few new product announcements, and was hosted in a type of Q&A style format with chief executive Steve Ballmer and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

“We have a chance in the next year to really raise our game, our product line, to the next level across phones, PCs, tablets, TV, the Xbox – and really the heart and soul of that will be our featured attraction tonight, our new metro interface,” he said.

Among the new product announcements were Kinect for Windows, a version of the Xbox motion-control technology used for gaming, along with some other Windows Phone smartphones, produced by Nokia and HTC, including the Lumia 900 and the Titan II.

So far, no local details for releases have been announced.

Microsoft executives also showed off the latest build of Windows 8, along with the Windows App Store, which is set to go live in February.

However, the keynote itself offered nothing new, and was a disappointing end as Microsoft won’t be hosting the opening keynote next year and will be downplaying its presence. Both tech publications Gizmodo and Engadget overheard attendees saying they were glad it was the last year Microsoft was hosting.

Meanwhile, CES has delivered a number of product announcements from a range of manufacturers, although ultrabooks and televisions have dominated the discussions.

LG released the world’s largest OLED television, with a screen size of 55mm and a width of just 4mm, with the company saying it will come at a much lower cost than previous OLED screens.

“OLED is clearly the future of home TV entertainment and LG is very focused on making this exciting technology as easy as possible for consumers to embrace,” he said.

Sony, however, released a Crystal LED television range, including a 55-inch version, while Samsung released its series 7 versions, promoting its Smart TV technology that allows users to access the internet and various apps through the television itself.

A number of improvements for the Samsung Smart TV were announced, including the ability for the new televisions to respond to voice and hand gestures, along with controls from Android devices. Users will also be able to log-in to their televisions using facial recognition.

Ultrabooks – extremely thin laptops – have also been on the agenda, with Acer already releasing what it believes to be the world’s thinnest model, the Aspire S5. It is just 15mm thick with a 13.3 inch LCD screen.