Microsoft Betting Big on ‘Touch’
Software Giant Invests in Touch-Screen Technology for Personal Computers — While Apple Inc.'s iPhone kicked off the craze for touch-sensing screens on mobile phones, Microsoft Corp. is pushing a similar technology for personal-computer screens that could eventually replace the computer mouse.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already signaled an iPhone-driven response through its effort to capitalize on the iPhone’s interface model, while planned touch support in Windows 7 and a 2008 multi-touch demonstration showed the work moving from product roadmap to interface development.
The investment gives that effort strategic weight: Microsoft is treating touch not as a phone-only feature but as an input model for the PC, where the mouse has long defined the software experience.
First-order effects
- Microsoft concentrates investment on touch-capable PCs and the Windows interface work needed to make direct manipulation practical alongside, or potentially in place of, the mouse.
- Apple’s iPhone becomes the reference point Microsoft is answering, extending their interface competition from mobile phones to personal computers.
Second-order effects
- PC makers and touch-screen component suppliers gain a stronger reason to align hardware designs with Microsoft’s touch-oriented Windows plans, rather than treating touch as a niche feature.
- Software developers building for Windows face a new design requirement: applications need interfaces that work with touch input as well as conventional mouse control.
Third-order effects
- If Microsoft’s approach is adopted broadly, PC differentiation shifts toward input hardware and touch-optimized software, weakening the mouse’s role as the default organizing assumption for desktop computing.
The trend: Touch interaction is moving from the iPhone’s mobile interface into mainstream PC design, with operating-system support determining whether it becomes a durable computing standard.