Microsoft opened the doors to their new store here in Scottsdale, AZ today at Fashion Square Mall blending ‘high technology with high fashion’ as one speaker said. I was able to grab a press pass and sneak inside (along with hundreds of others) and see what’s happening and new. Microsoft had a wrap around projection screen (and I mean wrapped around the store) hooked up to various XBOX 360s, PCs, and Notebooks. The Microsoft Surface table was on display in various parts of the store showcasing the multitouch features including Microsoft Concierge, a product gallery and some cool games for parties. Too bad it’s dishing out at $30K for commercial use only right now, but they hope to bring that down for consumers in the near future. What you really want to know about though is Windows Mobile. That’s where I headed first.

The Windows Mobile, or ‘Windows Phone,’ station was meager and only offered up four phones and two mifi’s. I had my fingers crossed for a sneak at Windows 7 but the world doesn’t work that way. All four phones were sporting Windows Mobile 6.5 and none were from T-Mobile. By the way, there is an update for the Touch Pro2 to Windows Mobile 6.5 on the HTC website but it isn’t carrier specific so don’t count on tech support from T-Mobile yet. The MS employees told me what we already know about 6.5 on T-Mobile, that when T-Mobile is done with quality control and checking it will be released to us in an official ROM. Good news (sigh), Windows Mobile 7 will be out…’next year sometime’

Microsoft was giving away goodie bags and gift cards to everyone, and a free copy of Office to the first 1,000 PC/notebook/netbook purchases. Without further ado, check out the random pictures after the jump!

Anyone needing the original image file for any of these please use the ‘Submit News‘ page to contact me. Enjoy!

 




No related posts.