Microsoft Unveils PC Geared for Media Creation -- Update
October 26 2016 - 2:51PM
Dow Jones News
By Jay Greene
Microsoft Corp. is expanding its hardware portfolio to challenge
Apple Inc.'s iMac with a new 28-inch touch-screen personal computer
called Surface Studio.
The software giant, which for years relied on hardware makers to
come up with PCs that run its Windows operating system, unveiled
the device at a Wednesday morning event in New York.
Like the iMac, the new model weds a video monitor and processing
unit, a design generally known as all-in-one. Microsoft, which also
announced an update called Windows 10 Creators Update, said the new
PC is intended to help users create all sorts of media content,
from three-dimensional dioramas to pictures drawn with a stylus on
the screen.
"I believe that the next 10 years will be defined by technology
that empowers profound creation," reversing the past decade's trend
toward devices that focus on consuming media such as music and
video, said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. "We are the company that
stands for the builders, the makers, the creators."
The Surface Studio's screen rests on two chrome arms that
connect to the processing unit, with a separate keyboard. The
screen can flip to lie nearly flat, turning the device into
something of a digital drafting table so users can use the stylus
to sketch artwork, modify architectural plans, and highlight
documents.
The ability to draw on the screen and create content is how
Microsoft believe it will distinguish the Studio from the iMac.
Microsoft also debuted the Surface Dial, a novel PC peripheral
that resembles a hockey puck. Customers can twist the Dial to
scroll through documents, adjust volume and expand or shrink
images. Placed on the Surface Studio's screen, it can be turned to
scroll through various colors in an art app.
"Every now and then, in pursuing our mission, we see an
opportunity to create a new category of device," said Terry
Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices
Group.
The Surface Studio can be preordered today for $2,999, and will
be available "in limited quantities" for the holidays, the company
said. Windows 10 Creators Update will be available early next
year.
The Surface Studio comes as computer sales slow and Microsoft
looks elsewhere, such as cloud computing and its Office
productivity applications, for growth. In the recently ended fiscal
first quarter, Windows revenue from computer makers was flat. That
beat the world-wide PC market as a whole, which slid 3.9% in the
quarter that ended in September, according to International Data
Corp.
Windows sales remain crucial for Microsoft. The reporting
segment called More Personal Computing, which includes Windows,
accounted for 45% of the company's quarterly revenue.
Microsoft also introduced an updated version of its slim laptop,
called the Surface Book i7, which will cost $2,399 and be available
in November. It said five partners -- HP Inc., Dell Inc., Lenovo
Group Ltd., Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc.--will launch
virtual reality headsets that run the Windows update; those will
debut next year and cost $299. And it introduced new Windows
features including a three-dimensional version of its Paint app and
live videogame broadcast capability, technology it picked up
through its August acquisition of the Beam game-streaming
service.
The Surface Studio pushes Microsoft farther into high-end PCs, a
market that caters to creative workers who often favor Apple
products. During an appearance at The Wall Street Journal's
WSJDLive 2016 global technology conference Monday, Mr. Nadella
noted that Microsoft's brand has "a bit of a utilitarian bent to
it."
The Surface Studio device is a bid by Microsoft to move beyond
that.
"They are trying to carve out a high-end niche market for
Windows," Forrester Research Inc. analyst J.P. Gownder said. "This
is not a mass-market PC."
Mr. Gownder, who saw the device in advance of its unveiling,
described it as "lust-inducing." He said it could be an
aspirational gadget that could have a "halo effect" on Microsoft's
other computers. And he believed it would provide guidance for
Microsoft's PC partners to come up with their own Windows
all-in-ones.
The new products and updates are key to Microsoft's bid to keep
the Windows engine running. The company disclosed that more than
400 million devices now run Windows. That is a 50 million jump from
the company's last update in June.
After the previous update, the company retreated from its
ambitious target of one billion Windows 10 devices in use by June
2018, citing its pullback from making smartphones that run the
operating system.
Write to Jay Greene at Jay.Greene@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 26, 2016 14:36 ET (18:36 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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