Will Microsoft's mystery product be 'clap on

"As far as Kinect for mobile, I think if you just think of Kinect as gestures, at that time yes, it's limited", Robert opines. "Nevertheless Kinect is as well speech -- and when you combine the two, I think you have a more broad base of applications. Because the research is natural, a person would use a combination of gestures and speech to use a device".

Speech's value is obvious. However you don't need cameras or special sensors for that. Except that the best mobile devices are all about sensors -- how they respond to you and add personality and humanness. That's what Apple got right with the original iPhone. The handset uses motion and proximity to respond to you. It's as well what Microsoft did so so then with Kinect for Xbox, yet with limitations. Sure, games respond to motion and voice, however the user stands far from the console. There's no intimacy.

Tablets, and as well smartphones, are much more intimate, because of proximity and touch and for what the devices are used for. Microsoft already has released a Kinect SDK for PCs, nevertheless built-in cameras/sensors would change the user experience, making it much more natural, intimate and even human.

Robert gets it. "I may log in to my PC/phone by the PC recognizing my face. Or I may answer the phone by speaking to it. I personally find the Kinect interface on Xbox very helpful -- voice and gestures -- especially when I can't find my remote or don't feel like walking in the living room to use the remote. I am ready for the tech to make its way over to my other devices".