David Flynn15 September 2006, 5:21 AM
What's with Microsoft's sudden interest in webcams and VoIP headsets? Why step into a well-established market, where notebooks increasingly have the stuff built-in? According to Microsoft, it's all just too hard to use at the moment.
What's with Microsoft's sudden interest in webcams and VoIP headsets? Why step into a well-established market, where notebooks -- which continue to outstrip desktops in their
double-digit growth -- increasingly have the stuff built-in?
Isn't it a bit late for Microsoft to turn up at the party?
The answer, according to Microsoft, is that it's all just too hard to use at the moment.
The alternative perspective (cue the sinister sound effects of a rumbling monopoly) is that it is all to do with the Windows Live juggernaut and the company's desire to win users and their advertising-ready eyeballs.
"Clearly Windows Live is part of the 'secret sauce'" says Barb Schwabe, Group Product Marketing Manager for Microsoft's Hardware Division. "We're in the business of trying to connect consumers, this is now our philosophy at Microsoft, so this is part of our strategy."
"Videochat has been around for a while but it's been for the technogeeks who were willing to put up with the complicated and complex setup experience.
"When we explored this business a while back the feedback was that there were too many barriers to make it a seamless experience. We were able, through software and firmware, to solve some of those issues and bring the experience more inline with consumer expectations."
So will the Webcams and headsets see a spike on Windows Live subscribers? It's a natural conclusion, and one that every 'Softie would welcome, but Schwabe believes it's not an overnight thing.
"You use the IM client that your friends are using. If all your friends are on AOL you're not going to switch to Windows Live just because the box says 'Optimised for Windows Live'. That said, when they discover how much easier it is, and how much better it can be, our hope is that they will then discover the suite of Windows Live services."
Ervan Pouliquen, from the Windows Live team, told APC that current online voice and video chat is barely the tip of the iceberg.
"We're tracking the usage of video in Windows Live, and in January 2006 alone we had 1.1 billion minutes of video on a global basis. But only 10% of people on Windows Live Messenger use video calling, so I'm focussing on the 90% that we don't have."
However, Pouliquen admits that when it comes to Webcams and Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft doesn't know which is the tail and which is the dog.
"They work best together, but the thing we don't know yet is what the sequence is. Do you have Windows Live Messenger so then you buy the device, or will you buy the device and then go to Windows Live Messenger? Our customer base is so big that it's enough that people already using Windows Live Messenger will buy the device, so we see this more as an engagement tool than an acquisition tool."
Microsoft's chat-tech
I've been given the tour of the latest Webcams and headsets to join Microsoft's ever-growing hardware stable.
The tight specs and relatively aggressive pricing are what you'd expect when the Gatesosaurus gets serious about grabbing a slice of any pie.
But there's no denying the substantial X factor of tight integration with Windows Live Messenger (nee MSN Messenger), the recognition and comfort factor of the Microsoft own brand and the company's undeniable market presence.
The $99 LifeCam VX-3000 and $149 LifeCam VX-6000 are already casting their multi-megapixels eyes at you from the shelves.
Early next month they'll be joined by the "cheap but cheerful" VX-1000 model, which at $59 should blast a swath through the webcam sales charts. The rudimentary 640 x 480 pixel VGA resolution won't rock the digerati but it's certain to be sufficient for first-time broadband adopters who are only now discovering the delights of ADSL.
This budget desktop webcam will be bookended in late November by the $179 LifeCam NX-6000. This lipstick-sized notebook Webcam sports a slick collapsible lens rated at 2 megapixels for video and 7.6 megapixels 'interpolated' for still snaps.
All the LifeCams include a one-touch 'call' button that pops up a window to show which of your Windows Live contacts are online and available for a natter.
Also giving Windows Live a leg-up is the 'one-touch blogging' applet which can upload snaps to your Windows Live Spaces site.
Early next year brings the launch of Microsoft's new LifeChat audio headset line with the LX-3000 ($49, due February 22nd) and the LX-6000 ($99, due March 9). The LX-3000 is a conventional wired USB headset with boom microphone and large padded cans that sit over the ear.
The more compact and lightweight LX-6000 earpiece cuts the cable with 2.4GHz RF and a battery which Microsoft pledges is good for 'up to eight hours of talk time or 200 hours of standby on a single recharge'.
Both LifeChat headsets are fitted with the inescapable Windows Live 'call' button and if you're listening to music, will automatically pause the tune and switch to any 'incoming' VoIP call; when you end the call the music picks up where it left off.
David Flynn is putting up with drizzling rain and questionable coffee at Microsoft's 2006 Hardware Launch in Seattle as a guest of Microsoft. It's a hard life!