- 06.18.12 3:53 PM
A model at Milk Studios, where Microsoft is holding its Los Angeles event today. Photo: Kevork Kiledjian/Flickr
Microsoft’s rumored to be launching a tablet today at a mysterious event in Los Angeles. Not Redmond, Washington, where the company is headquartered. Not Silicon Valley, where many of its partners are based and where it’s got a San Francisco research office. But LA, known more for its innovations in reality television than in computing devices. The location is worth pondering.
Sure, Microsoft has some people in Southern California. It’s possible the company set up a Tinseltown skunkworks to create its rumored new tablet, and that it simply wants to launch its new product next to the team that created it.
But there are also clues hinting Hollywood’s entertainment industry could be a big part of today’s launch, slated for 3:30 p.m. PT. Maybe Microsoft was drawn to Los Angeles for the most obvious reason: It needed to be near the entertainment industry.
It’s interesting that the news Microsoft would be making its own tablet hardware was broken this past week not in the tech media, or by a national news organization, or by one of the trade publications dedicated to covering Microsoft. No, first to the story was The Wrap, a show-business news site. The tidbit, mind you, remains unconfirmed, but Silicon Valley-based All Things D later reported it hadconfirmed that crucial detail with its own sources. The Wrap’s reporters on the apparent scoop were editor Sharon Waxman and reporter Alex Kaufman, whose stories (and thus most of their sources) are from showbiz, not tech.
Also interesting is the report the the supposed tablet will be able to receive streaming video via Xbox Live, and the one claiming the device is the linchpin of a leaked master plan to take over home entertainment.
But probably the strongest indication Microsoft could cozy up to Hollywood at its event today, whether through a major new studio deal or with some simple celebrity endorsements, is how logical such a move would be. The living room is the last big emerging market not yet dominated by Apple, which owns the tablet space and which is trouncing Microsoft in mobile phones. Microsoft is ahead in the living room thanks to Xbox, but it needs to broaden its appeal beyond hardcore videogamers if it’s going to keep that lead. Given Apple’s focus on living room video with the Apple TV, that means strengthening Xbox’s entertainment offerings, which at the moment include Netflix, Hulu, and the underwhelming Zune Store.
Improved entertainment offerings would also be key for the rumored Xbox Surface tablet supposedly being unveiled in Los Angeles today. Microsoft knows how to work with software developers on an apps platform, and has already begun building a mobile software library with Windows Phone 7. What it’s really lacking in mobile are media purchase and rental offerings on par with the iTunes Store. To catch up, Microsoft needs to make big new partnerships with the people who produce and distribute said media, particularly with a blockbuster name like HBO or ESPN.
Not that Microsoft hasn’t been trying. It doomed the Halo movie by being overaggressive toward studio chiefs. But maybe the software nerds in Redmond have learned since then how to operate smoothly in Hollywood. On that competency, today’s event may turn out to be an excellent report card.
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