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A conversation with Microsoft’s Marc Whitten on SmartGlass and the quest for a better living room
What good is a surprise if you already saw it coming? When I mention to Microsoft's Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox Live and the man who has shepherded SmartGlass to its debut, that we kind-of-sort-of knew that his baby was set to be announced at E3 before the company got a chance to do so, he lets out a frustrated laugh. "Yeah..."
He'd hoped the unveiling at the company's pre-show keynote would be the first time we, and everyone else in the industry, got eyes on the fruit of his and his team's labors. But, when I tell him we were still genuinely surprised at the scope of SmartGlass, and genuinely impressed at the potential, he seems genuinely pleased and reminds us that what we've seen is "all just the beginning." Join us after the break for an exploration of what comes next for Microsoft SmartGlass.
A conversation with Microsoft's Marc Whitten on SmartGlass and the quest for a better living room originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsMicrosoft’s Marc Whitten: SmartGlass is the ‘enabling technology’ of IE on Xbox 360
We just had an opportunity to sit and chat with Microsoft's Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox Live, about the history and future of Microsoft's SmartGlass. It's one of the highlights of the show for us and so we were curious about its origin. Namely: was SmartGlass created to allow easy text entry into the upcoming Xbox 360 version of Internet Explorer?
It's the opposite, says Marc. Microsoft has toyed with ways to bring IE to the Xbox for years now but always shelved the project due to control issues. It was only when they came up with the idea of SmartGlass 12 months ago -- being able to connect your phone or tablet to your Xbox and use it as a controller, among other things -- that a browser on an Xbox started to make sense. Great controls, he said, were the key to building the "great web experience" they were looking for.
Microsoft's Marc Whitten: SmartGlass is the 'enabling technology' of IE on Xbox 360 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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