Friday 18 July 2014

Microsoft kills 3D Touch Windows Phone codenamed "McLaren"

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Starting this fall, Microsoft was poised to release a new high-end Windows Phone featuring their new gesture technology dubbed 3D Touch. The project originally went by the name 'Goldfinger' but later moved to the prototype device stage under the moniker 'McLaren'. It was to be released on at least three US carriers simultaneously in addition to wider availability.
In effect, this leaves Microsoft in a potentially vulnerable position this fall as the hardware and services company does not have any flagship Windows Phones, to our knowledge, in the pipeline.
Although the timing of this report coincides with the recent layoffs and reorganization plans at Microsoft, the decision to cancel McLaren was made within the last few weeks, prior to yesterday's news. The reasons for canceling McLaren range from cost to Microsoft being unable to move beyond the proposal stage for interactive usages with the technology. The news of the cancellation is so recent that current GDR2 roadmaps still show McLaren and 3D Touch slated for later this year.
Although the idea of using touchless "3D" gestures to interact with a smartphone is enticing, the question of whether it is more than a gimmick constantly hounded the development process. Companies, including Samsung, had explored touchless gesture technology before but never to the level in which Microsoft took it. However, it seems that Microsoft was unable to move the project further to guarantee a consistent, workable, and usable consumer experience.
Interestingly, Microsoft and touchless gestures go back to 2008, meaning none of this is particularly new. However, this was the first time that Microsoft took the project all the way to the prototype phase, including making tentative deals with carriers to launch the phone this November. In fact, Nokia had initiated some advances in this area, including their "peek" function for Glance, which lets users turn on the display clock by hovering their hand over the display.
All of this is not to say that Microsoft has given up on 3D Touch as the company is still actively researching the technology. Nevertheless, these touchless gestures are evidently not ready for developers or consumers, and Microsoft is holding back until they feel the innovation is more than just a novelty.
Additionally, Windows Phone has recently seen much more success at the entry level price range rather than high-end, so it remains to be seen if this decision damages further Windows Phone adoption by the public.
Combined with the recent Kinect setbacks with the Xbox One, it is clear that the public – or perhaps the technology itself – is not quite yet ready for mass adoption. Microsoft has learned some hard lessons over Kinect as the state-of-the-art accessory has not exactly caused a revolution in game interaction.

Although McLaren is dead in the water for now, the thinking lives on and may see another day in future handsets.

Via: WPCentral

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