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Microsoft has been investing heavily on its Surface product for some time now. Microsoft believes that the product will be embedded in all aspects of life, right from bedroom, kitchen and closet, to bars and restaurants. Right now the price is probably one of the main factors that's preventing Surface from telling what I can do with the flour (lol!, see the video below), but eventually the price is going to come down, or hopefully a lot of scaled down versions will hit the market.



Though, I think talking to the kitchen part in the video above is very unnatural and somewhat creepy, the rest of the ideas are super cool. (Especially, extending the phone's desktop to Surface and pushing data to the Cloud) While, I can think of hundreds of uses and applications, I particularly like the idea of implementing Surface at the restaurants. Consider the scenarios...
Once you get seated, you bring up the menu on Surface and browse through all the options. Selecting an item brings up pictures, ingredients, user rating/reviews and other useful information. To order, you just press the 'order button', and even enter special notes for the Chef. When the Iced Tea starts running low, the waiter automatically gets notified, and you don't have to wait for the waiter to look at you to get more drinks! Once you are done with the food, you could split the check with friends any way you want, and just tap the card on the table to make the payment... So much more efficient. I am sure this will be a big turnoff for a lot of people who prefer the personal touch, and the special treatment at nice cozy restaurants, but this doesn't necessarily have to be an 'either/or' thing. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a cool video still some more, so here's another one showing the implementation in restaurants. Like I said in the beginning, the price has to come down significantly before the main stream deployment even starts!
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Comments

Mon, 18 May 2009 04:59:48

Thats cool. I don't know the name but there is a restaurant in London, which has touch enabled tables where customers can place their orders without the waiters actually coming to take their orders. I don't know if this is the same MSFT technology those guys are using.

 

Mehul

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:12:05

@Vikram: That's nice that some of them have already started deploying such solutions. Will be so cool to actually visit one of them. It'll probably take decades before every normal restaurant starts having them,

 

Tue, 19 May 2009 11:46:23


I have been hearing the reviews of their table top computer since last year and found it too cool. But this is problem with Microsoft. They take too much time between their prototype launch and actual product launch. Vista delay was never ending. Lets hope Windows 7 is launched on its targeted date.

 

Steve Esuckston

Tue, 19 May 2009 14:50:00

I think they already have a version of the Microsoft Surface for sale. But its prohibitively expensive. Around $6000 if i can remember correctly.

 

Mehul

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:28:03

@Adesh: That's very true! I couldnt have said it better. But in this case, I think they already have it in the market...it's just that its way too expensive...so only very exclusive places have it..

 

Mehul

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:30:32

@Steve: You are right..it has been deployed at a few places, but price is one of the major barriers at this point. Hopefully in the next few years, cheaper variations will come out.

 

Sun, 24 May 2009 08:17:42

Hey Mehul,
This is a good post. Definitely as you mentioned the Surface is going to revolutionize the Restaurant experience. Specially at the time of dividing the bill among friends, you don't have to try and calculate the separation among us and make a mockery of ourselves. I think you know what I mean :-P. But as you mentioned there are many other applications which might make the surface, the only table surface you see in any restaurant or casino.

Thanks,
Krishna Chaitanya Emani.

 

Mehul

Sun, 31 May 2009 11:31:48

@Krishna: Yes. Definitely. Can't wait for that too happen. Eating out will become so much more exciting!

 

Jenna

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:53:57

@Steve:

Actually, the price for the commercial model is at least $12,500, not including service and installation.

 

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    Mehul Jain

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