Microsoft’s 15th and possibly last keynote address happened tonight at CES. Ryan Seacrest guest-starred in the address and it took on a more-conversational format rather than simply a presentation. Steve Ballmer talked about how Windows Phone puts people first. He showed how his phone gives him instant access to what’s important to himÂ… what’s going on with the people in his life. The NY Times called it “Gorgeous, classy, fast and coherent.”
Pocketnow alum, Derek Snyder also gave a demo of some of the Windows Phone features. We don’t really see anything new, but Derek does demo the cool “Reserve a Table” integration between Bing, a restaurant’s contact card, and a 3rd party app called Open Table. The “TellMe” voice recognition hit a bit of a snag and didn’t work quite right during the demo however.
Ballmer also showed off the new Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II that were both announced earlier today. There were actually a lot of cheers when Ballmer first mentioned Windows Phone 7, but both Steve and Derek joked that the cheering was either paid for by Microsoft or came from Microsoft employees in the audience which I’m sure some may interpret as a lack of confidence in the product.
The CES Keynote will be available as a recording here eventually.
