CES 2012: Microsoft overview

Microsoft put an end to an era when it delivered its last address as the keynote speaker at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. The company has been the keynote speaker at the event for the past 14 years.

Before signing off, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer summed up the company’s performance in the last year and hinted at things to come in the future. He introduced the company’s new user interface Metro and unveiled two new Windows Phone handsets, the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II.

Metro will be the cornerstone of the upcoming Windows 8 platform and will run on the Windows Phone OS. According to Ballmer, the new UI is ‘fast, fluid and dynamic’.

Microsoft also showcased a Windows 8 app running on a Samsung tablet. Not much is known about this development yet, except that it will most likely work on gesture control. Windows 8 is being marketed by the company as a platform that combines ‘the potential of a tablet with the power of a PC’.

The two new Windows Phone devices released by Microsoft promise to plant the company firmly in the smartphone market, especially since they both offer 4G LTE connectivity, something Microsoft loyalists have been seeking for a long while. With blazing fast speeds and powerful cores, these devices will help the software giant to finally compete with Apple and Samsung on an equal footing.

According to USA Today, Ballmer said of the coming year, ‘We really have a chance to raise our game this year.’ Hopefully, Metro and Windows 8 will live up to the high expectations that the world seems to be setting for the duo.