The problem is that Microsoft does not, can not, see it that way (and perhaps never will). They invented a device from the future yet could not untether themselves from the past and present. They could not see the potential to change the world with this device because they are too wedded to the idea that it had to work with the present. So, instead, it is just a toy, nothing more.
I realize this is an Apple fan blog, but the opinion here is so clouded and off base. The Kinect is a Trojan horse, and the warriors are already starting to sneak out of the woodwork hatch.
Microsoft is selling a ton of these things. More and faster than Apple is selling iPads, by some estimates.
Microsoft has released an SDK to facilitate app development for Kinect on Windows. These things — email and document composition with voice, Web browsing with a hand wave — will come.
I’ve met with some guys at Bing, and they’re working on prototypes for search. Swype, as a third-party, has concepts for a Kinect keyboard that makes writing an email look like you’re conducting an orchestra.
But your shining-star example in Apple doesn’t ring true. Go back, and look at the iPhone with its first software release. It was a fantastic replacement for an iPod Nano, had a beautiful weather app, great for email, decent Web browser, and it could sometimes make phone calls. It was not a productivity device. You couldn’t do anything with a Word document. You couldn’t move things between apps. You couldn’t download apps. You couldn’t even copy and paste text.
Technology is a work in progress, and Microsoft, which has shut down countless challengers in the computer market including the Department of Justice, which finally has a damn-clever strategy in smartphones, is not a company I would count out.
