Recently, Microsoft has requested a patent that would greatly increase the capabilities of smartphones, and hopefully increase their popularity in the process. This “smart interface system” patent would be able to link up with a desktop through an output for an external display, along with an ethernet jack and a USB hub. Microsoft hopes that this ambitious plan will help them in the future where they hope to rival the popularity of desktops with the smartphone. The smartphone is already catching up to your standard computer, but its lack of keyboard or large display are said to be its main setbacks.
To make this happen, the outputs on the phone would match those of a new dock that would be created in order to link the phone with external devices. As of now, the docks are only used to charge the phone, but Microsoft’s newly designed dock would allow these new features to come together. Obviously, if the smartphone can develop enough features to truly catch up with real computer systems, it could allow Microsoft to market the smartphone as a cheaper alternative to owning an actual computer. Wherever the user would go, they could just plug it in to a nearby monitor and get going like usual – the patent even calls for different settings (e.g. home and office) so that it’s like having two separate computers on you at all times. If the patent is picked up, this software will be further developed and they’d work with other companies to see their dock’s design become a reality.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/microsoft-paten.html
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