How does it change things?
The last time I bought a cell phone, I did two things. First, I went online and searched for cell phones that were compatible with Verizon, my carrier. I got detailed product specs, professional reviews and a dizzying array of user comments. I narrowed my choices down to a few phones, but I balked before I could bring myself to enter my credit card number. I wanted something no website could give me: I wanted to touch the phone, to hold it in my hand, feel its weight and ultimately make the purchasing decision after examining the phone's intangible qualities.

I drove to my local store.

My local Verizon store gave me what I wanted, but it also gave me a headache. Beset by crying babies, less-than-stellar sales people and more choices than I really needed. I nearly walked out. But I was there to actually see some phones, and you can't do that online. The problem, aside from the overall retail experience, was that once inside the store, I had to work hard to collect all the information I had so easily found online.

Of course, this problem is probably nothing new to you. But it's worth pointing out that kids born this year may never really understand the online/offline dilemma I've just described.

With a price tag in the $10,000 range, Microsoft isn't pushing Surface as a consumer product, yet (that day is still three to five years out). For now, Surface will be an in-store shopping aide.

"While shopping for a new cell phone, you have a choice for finding information on the different models available, you can surf the web for hours or head to a cell phone retailer that has Microsoft Surface," Bolger says. "In the future, you'll be able to combine those experiences by literally being able to place different phones on Surface and do side-by-side comparisons of specs, features and prices."

Just as Starwood worked with Microsoft on a food and beverage selection for Surface, T-Mobile has signed on as the official cell phone partner. Choosing a cell phone, at least a T-Mobile cell phone, will be a different animal. Soon, people will be able to go to T-Mobile stores and sort through an array of plans, comparing each graphically enhanced option on a side-by-side basis, moving information across the screen with their fingers. When they're ready for the physical phone, a potential buyer will simply put as many phone's as they like onto Surface, which will instantly display all the information they would have found about a particular model while surfing the internet. Once the buyer selects his phone, payment is as simple as placing his credit card on the table. But Surface, with its emphasis on interactivity and sharing, also lets the buyer easily move his phone book to his new phone or swap information with someone else at the table.   

"What we're doing with Surface is introducing a completely new interaction experience that changes the way that people interact with digital information," Bolger says. "We're currently focused on the leisure, entertainment and retail markets in which Surface will change the way that people shop, dine and interact with one another. In many ways, we're introducing technology where it simply wasn't present before. "
 
What about the brands?
Right now, Microsoft has four Surface partners: T-Mobile, Harrah's, IGT and Starwood. According to Bolger, the plan is to expand the platform as the technology becomes more widespread. But for those brands that are participating with Surface, the sky could be the limit in terms of how they engage their customers.

Microsoft wouldn't disclose its ad-serving plans for Surface, but Bolger highlighted the strength of the platform as a tool for reaching people by calling it "the beginning of true virtual interactivity."

"For an advertiser, it means being able to reach more than one person at once in a collaborative end-user environment," Bolger says. "Surface engages consumers through natural hand-gestures, touch and everyday physical objects. For example, if I want to share a hard copy photograph with you, I just slide it across the table. The same gesture works for digital content with Surface -- mirroring the way we interact in the real world – because I can actually touch and move a digital photo in the same way I would a printed photo."

In other words, the points of connection between a print, TV and digital campaign just evaporated. 

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Michael Estrin is associate editor at iMediaConnection. Read full bio.