Five products that Microsoft is most looking forward to in 2013

For most high-tech observers, Microsoft is a giant in the software manufacturing arena, but Microsoft does not think so. In the past few months, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has repeatedly reiterated that Microsoft's technology giant has become a device and service company. In October this year, Ballmer sent an open letter to his shareholders, in which he wrote:

& ldquo; This is a major change, whether we are currently engaged Work, or self-positioning, we are all a device and service company. It will affect how we operate our company, how to develop new experiences, and how we can bring products to market for consumers and businesses. "With this main line, Microsoft introduced the new Windows 8 operating system in 2012, and later released the Surface RT tablet, which poses a challenge to Apple's iPad status. There is no doubt that Microsoft will introduce more devices and services in the coming months.

The top five products that Microsoft is looking forward to in 2013 are:

1. Windows 8 Tablet PC

This year, Microsoft and its partners launched the first Windows 8 based system. A variant of the Windows RT tablet, which uses an ARM system-on-a-chip architecture for a slim, long-lasting battery life. It is expected that Microsoft will launch a more powerful, more expensive tablet running a full Windows 8 operating system next year.

Future Windows 8 tablet features will be more powerful than Windows RT, especially if these tablets give us a familiar desktop mode and run common Windows applications. It is very attractive for business users who are not used to the Windows RT interface.

But Windows 8 tablets are being kept away from consumers because of their bulkiness. If it is too clumsy, consumers will not use it to consume e-books or watch movies. The answer will soon be revealed if you can win the favor of users. It is said that Microsoft will launch a Surface Pro tablet running Windows 8 operating system starting in January next year.

2, Kin THREE mobile phone?

Microsoft has launched two mobile phone products —— Kin one and Kin Two, but the two products are released two months later. The sound disappeared.

There are indications that Microsoft may personally build a mobile phone for next year, but it won't be Kin THREE. After all, Microsoft has launched a tablet Surface with Windows 8 system to compete directly with hardware vendors. Therefore, Microsoft is likely to launch its own mobile phone product with Windows Phone 8 operating system.

In fact, Microsoft has previously stated that it has launched its own mobile phone. Some media have directly asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "Will Microsoft make its own mobile phone?" Ballmer did not answer positively. He talked about some of his own mobile phone partners. Ballmer said that the Windows Phone-based smartphones launched by Microsoft partners have a global share of less than 3%, which has not really caught consumers' attention in the market, and Microsoft believes that it can do this after launching a smartphone.

3, Xbox Next

Undoubtedly, Microsoft has become a device company, but for now it is limited to Xbox video game consoles. The Microsoft Xbox debuted in 2001, and in 2005 launched its successor —— Xbox 360. It is worth mentioning that its current Xbox 360 is still selling well. Data from the market research organization NPD shows that in November this year, Xbox 360 products sold even more than the Nintendo Wii U.

But this is not enough to prevent Microsoft from developing its follow-up gaming platform. Microsoft engineers, designers and product managers are already working on the next generation of gaming platforms called Xbox Next or Xbox 720. Microsoft will release the product at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June next year and launch it during the 2013 shopping holiday.

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will no longer be a pure video game console. Microsoft has built the device into an entertainment center that integrates movies, cable and music services. In the future, Microsoft's game products will face this. One direction develops in depth.

4, Skype service extension

For many years, Microsoft has launched a large number of services, from Xbox Live to Skydrive network storage products, but so far no product can actively participate in users, such as This situation has changed since Google provided the “Googling” search service until Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011.

In the future, Skype will become a typical service in Microsoft products. Skype, with hundreds of millions of users, will replace Microsoft MSN next year and land on a large number of PCs, tablets and smartphones. Lync, the Microsoft enterprise instant messaging product, may also be replaced by Skype.

Users expect Skype to appear on Microsoft devices. At present, Microsoft has released the Windows 8 version with Skype. Microsoft's Skype engineers are working on the product into the Windows Phone app. It's not hard to imagine that Microsoft will offer Skype services on the Xbox platform, allowing consumers to use Kinect controllers in addition to cameras and microphones in video conferencing.

5, Office 15

Office 15 will be the most important product released by Microsoft in 2013. Therefore, Microsoft has disclosed that it will launch most of the features of this product in the first quarter of next year. Perhaps the release of Office 15 will not bring more surprises to users.