Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard? Microsoft, Are You Kidding Us?

Today, Microsoft has made its first hardware stumble in quite a while. Isn’t it funny that this one is along the same vein as the last one? The last time I remember a problem with a piece of Microsoft hardware (other than quality slipping some), is the release of the Intellimouse Explorer for Bluetooth, a really nicely designed mouse that, because it was Bluetooth, clobbered wi-fi connections at times, and at others, froze up because it was being clobbered by wi-fi. The look and feel was beautiful, but the cost was also high, almost 3 times the cost of the regular Wireless Intellimouse designs at the time.

This time Microsoft has ’screwed the pooch’ twice, on one product.

from TechConnect

Microsoft has now announced its thinnest keyboard yet, the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 and a Bluetooth Number Pad to complement it. Thinner than an AAA battery, the shiny new peripheral has a Comfort Curve design with a 6-degree curve providing an ergonomic typing experience.

“The design tenets of compact, clean and refined really set the stage for the success of the keyboard,” said Chris Kujawski, industrial designer for Microsoft Hardware. “There is nothing extraneous about the design. We removed everything that didn’t fit with those ideas and ended up with something we’re really proud of - a compact, sophisticated keyboard that pairs perfectly with Bluetooth computers.”

The Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 and Bluetooth Number Pad are backed by a three-year warranty and are set to start selling next month for $90 and $45, respectively.

Thin? Isn’t that what the mobile user wants to get away from? I know I certainly do, as I absolutely hate minimum-travel keys found on laptops and netbooks. On top of that, thin usually means flimsy, not a good thing in a travelling situation.

Bluetooth? Did Microsoft learn nothing about the problems with Bluetooth and wi-fi not playing nicely, as they share [overlapping] frequencies on the 2.4GHz band? Are they not certain that the devices this might be used with will be connecting to the internet wirelessly…at 2.4GHz? This might be partly ameliorated by 802.11n, but how many portable devices have 11n built in? (especially since the spec is still in draft)

Separate keyboard and number pad? Again, is that not what the average user is trying to get away from? Now I see the idea of offering a wireless keypad, that makes sense, as it is a nice add-on to the laptop - but again Bluetooth kills the deal.

$135 for the pair? When netbooks are going for $299 on a regular basis, with frequent dips in pricing? Hopefully Microsoft is ready for these to be low volume items, because they will be.

Microsoft seems to think that Bluetooth somehow adds a certain aura of sophistication to anything they sell, and that the public thinks that Bluetooth chipsets are much more costly that any other commodity chip these days. I don’t think the public will be buying that one anytime soon. This is for the ‘more-money-than-brains crowd’.

Microsoft, it’s time to go back to the drawing board, or, skipping that, back to a rethink of the pricing strategy.

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