John Paczkowski

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What’s Flat and Touchy and Microsoft All Over?

August 4, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

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A pair of image fragments posted to the @msfthardware Twitter account along with some cryptic comments (one, two) about a future product release have gadget watchers wondering what new piece of kit the company has in the pipeline.

When joined, the fragments appear to reveal a thin, rectangular device bearing the Microsoft (MSFT) brand. Offered up along with this teasing tweet–“Don’t be so touchy…flat is where it’s at”–the mystery gadget would seem to be some sort of multitouch mouse or perhaps Microsoft’s take on Apple’s (AAPL) recently released Magic Trackpad.

But honestly, it’s tough to say. At first glance, the composite image also looks like the back of a smartphone or media player…or a remote control…or an electric razor…or a pancake griddle. Could be anything, really. Any ideas?

Tagged with: Apple, digital, gadget, hardware, innovation, John Paczkowski, Magic Trackpad, Microsoft, multitouch mouse, Twitter

comments so far. Add yours.

  • Anonymous

    Is it made of cheap black plastic? If so, look for a Dell logo.

  • Anonymous

    It’s a clone of Apple’s Magic Mouse from 10 months ago.

    http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Mouse

  • http://blog.macb.net macbeach

    Flat. Like Microsoft’s stock price.

  • Anonymous

    It looks like the back of a media player (the next Zune?) or a phone. The hint might mean that the back of the unit is the touch surface (similar to a trackpad) so that your fingers don’t touch the screen on the other side.

    If this is the concept that they are hinting at, it could either work well as a substitute for a touch screen, or on the other hand, it might end up being a dud that people find unintuitive to use.

    Either way, only time will tell ;-)

  • demodave

    You know, I *do* find the idea of a back side touchscreen Intriguing, if only because you could try to do stuff to the front side content without blocking it with your thumbs. But the interface runs the risk of being really awkward.

    Dunno.

    I would expect Apple to be able to pull it off, but not Microsoft. Nobody else has invented it yet.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, it should be a media player or windows 7 phone. It looks detachable battery door in the rear.