Even without Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. retained its title as the brightest star on the Strip at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
On Wednesday evening, Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer took to the stage to deliver his first CES keynote as the public face of the world's largest software company, revealing that the company plans to release a trial version of Windows 7 – the successor to the much-maligned Windows Vista – Friday.
Not to be outdone, Palm Inc. topped industry expectations by unveiling a new touch-screen smart phone designed to challenge the BlackBerry and the iPhone.
Undaunted by the global economic slowdown, Mr. Ballmer encouraged companies to invest in technology and used the opportunity to unveil a series of initiatives designed to bolster the company's search advertising and mobile businesses. “No matter what happens with the economy, our digital lives will only get richer,” he said.
Microsoft announced that it has signed a deal with Dell Inc. to include both Windows Live and Live Search software on most of the computer maker's new PCs and laptops.
In an effort to expand the company's footprint in the burgeoning market for Internet searches on mobile phones, Microsoft unveiled a new five-year deal that will make Live Search the default Web query tool on all smart phones sold by Verizon Communications Inc., the largest cellular carrier in the United States.
Palm's new phone, the Palm Pre, created a wave of buzz across the Internet. It features a slide-out QWERTY keypad and will be the first device to run on the company's new mobile operating platform, known as webOS. The Pre is at the centre's of Palm's plans to return to prominence in the smart phone market as it goes up against Research In Motion Ltd.'s newest BlackBerry devices and Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
Every year, analysts and industry experts descend on Las Vegas for CES to get a sneak peek at what the world's largest electronics companies have been cooking up in their research labs over the past year and to discern what the hottest technology trends will be for the coming year.
If the annual showcase is any predictor of the year ahead, consumers can look forward to the fusion of the Internet with television, touch-screen interfaces, netbooks and a rich assortment of new smart phones.
Yahoo Inc. and Intel Corp. spent the week revealing a series of partner companies that have signed on to their proposed Internet-television service, called the Widget Channel.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sony Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. have all pledged to release TVs prepackaged with the technology this spring, while News Corp.'s MySpace social-networking site has also signed on to allow users to check and update their profiles through Yahoo's widgets.
South Korea's LG stole a page from James Bond's gadget guide by introducing what it says is the world's first market-ready touch-screen watch cellphone. LG expects it to be available in Europe later this year, but has not set a date for its North American debut.
To capitalize on the trend of touch-screen interfaces popularized by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Hewlett-Packard Co. announced the HP TouchSmart PC, a desktop computer with a touch-sensitive screen; it is expected to be available in North America in February.
© The Globe and Mail
