As an analyst we are afforded the luxury of seeing many products. The result is a numbness to new and interesting technology which should elicit tongue wagging oohs and aahs. But this morning I saw The Microsoft Sphere at Gizmodo and I was ready to get in line to pre-order one.

While Microsoft has no commercials plans for the rounded version of Surface, it should. Would it be ridicliously expensive when it would first be available? Yes. Would very few people be able to afford it? Yes. Would prices eventually drop so others could buy it too? Yes.

I often look at the future of the PC in the home. From the big clunky beige boxes of yesteryear to the slim stylings of the aluminum iMac to the innovations of the HP TouchSmart PC - the desktop has evolved in form and function. Why shouldn’t the envy inspiring Sphere - playing a circular slideshow of your most recent trip, allowing you to plan a trip via Google Earth in unexpected interactive ways, or displaying an interactive recipe to help you cook be the next revolution in computing? The desktop has to change to remain relevant and while I think The HP MediaSmart PC represents an important step in the right direction the Sphere is a leap.

If prices dropped and technology shrunk sufficiently there could be a portable Zune Sphere (that would offer a UI and form factor to compete with the iPod) or Xbox Sphere (which ironically would be more apt to the already used 360 moniker). The platform would change the way users interact with a computer, would enliven the development community and  hardware manufacturers while making the “desktop” relevant again and ushering in a new age for Microsoft. Surface could afford Microsoft the same luxury. It is this type of innovation that will allow the CE industry to be propelled forward despite years of relentless technology advance.

Now if they had only called it the iSphere….