Greetings from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona!

We are excited to announce that we’ve been working with Microsoft on the launch of their next-generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 Series. Steve Ballmer and the Windows Phone team announced Windows Phone 7 Series moments ago. As part of the launch, we’ve unveiled multi-touch experiences which emulate the user interface of the mobile devices. These experiences allow conference attendees and members of the press to experience Windows Phone 7 Series for the first time, flicking and gesturing through the 3D user interface and learning about the key features of the operating system on 40″ monitors.

Be sure to check out the Windows Phone 7 Series experience at the Microsoft booth (#1D19). Also join us at Hotel Catalonia (across the plaza from the MWC event) where the Windows Phone team is hosting members of the public and press for hands-on demonstrations of Windows Phone 7 Series.

We’ll be updating throughout the day with behind-the-scenes photos and videos from the booth and press events – stay tuned!

8:11am (+1 GMT) – Day 1, World Mobile Congress.  Steve Dawson (Technology Lead, Razorfish Emerging Experiences) and Luke Hamilton (Creative Lead, Razorfish Emerging Experiences) at the Windows Phone booth early in the morning (see below).  The Razorfish team collaborated closely with the Windows Phone 7 team.  Luke, Steve and team put in some late nights and weekends to make the touch experiences come to life. [jonathan hull]

3:59 (+1 GMT) – holy cow there are droves of people watching the press conference! (see below) [lesley young]

4:20 (+1 GMT) – the Windows Phone 7 Series touchscreen experience is live! [@stevedawson]

4:21 (+1 GMT) – as well as the online demo of the Windows Phone 7 Series, enjoy! [@lhamilton]

4:43 (+1 GMT) – having fun watching all the press interact with the giant 40″ demo of the phone (see below) [@lhamilton]

5:15 (+1 GMT) – we just posted pictures from the launch event setup to our flickr account … its been a tough, but fun 6 days [@lhamilton]

5:32 (+1 GMT) – users getting a hands on demo of the actual phone experience [@stevedawson]

5:58 (+1 GMT) – the Windows Phone team giving interactive demos on the big ass phone (see below) [jonathan hull]

Hey, we’re going offline now, thanks so much for the touchscreen and online teams in Atlanta, Austin, Portland and Seattle that made this come together in under 4 weeks.

Customers are being faced with increasingly complex buying decisions, especially when it comes to technology and services. As a result, increased pressure is being placed on store associates to provide knowledgeable service to customers. Our Emerging Experiences team used this opportunity to develop a solution to demonstrate how an immersive interactive experience can assist customers and store associates with complex buying decisions in a retail setting.

The Razorfone solution is focused around providing an experience where customers can learn about wireless products. Phone and netbook features and associated wireless plans are presented in a rich interactive environment. Accessories are presented to the customer as a cross-sell opportunity. The use of 3D allows for customers to view their device in any color and from any angle, regardless of availability of the physical device within the retail store. The customer can validate the wireless coverage where they live, work and play through the use of the interactive coverage map using simple pan and zoom gestures. Customers can personalize their device after purchase with ringtones, games and applications through the use of QR technology, increasing sales and helping to eliminate buyers remorse.

As the complexity of technology and service offerings increases, training store associates on these products and services can be expensive and ineffective. In addition, the turnover rate in retail can have a negative effect on the number of knowledgable store associates. In an assisted-sales scenario, the store associates can focus on being brand ambassadors while the experience provides the information the customer needs to make informed decisions about the wireless products.

Watch the above video as we walk you through the Razorfone experience. We’d love to hear your feedback!

The Razorfish EE team has been kicking the tires on Windows 7 for almost a year prior to product launch. With great success we’ve been running the Razorfish Touch Framework (RTF) on Windows 7 across a number of multi-touch displays. Recently our Neue Digitale office in Germany had the opportunity to port the Audi Configurator Surface experience to Windows 7 for the Windows 7 launch event. Utilizing the RTF, the team was able to bring the Microsoft Surface experience to Windows 7 in under a week. This makes the Audi Configurator, not only the first Windows 7 multi-touch application on the German market, but also a tool which is hardware independent and can be installed on a variety of multi-touch enabled devices.

We also had the opportunity to test drive with an experimental multi-touch hardware device named “dreaMTouch” manufactured by Elektrosil Systeme der Elektronik GmbH for the Windows 7 launch. We recently worked with the device for the DMEXCO (Digital Marketing Exposition Conference) in Germany where we showcased the Razorfashion application and our other multi-touch experiences. The device supports an incredible 32 simultaneous touches on a 46″ screen. The device itself only measures a few inches thick. The dreaMTouch is now available for purchase.

Check out more pictures of the Windows 7 Launch Event featuring the Audi Car Configurator.

We’ve been busy traveling the globe demonstrating our touch experiences. The reaction from clients and the industry has been great – we’ve met some wonderful people along the way. Recently we were at the Microsoft Vendor Fair showing our Surface and vertical multi-touch experiences. With the Windows 7 release, the excitement within Microsoft is understandable. Much like our other clients, we’re working with Microsoft in realizing the potential of touch related experiences from a sales and marketing perspective. To see evidence of this look no further than the Microsoft retail store.

Razorfashion goes international. We jumped at a chance to support our Neue Digitale team in Germany at DMEXCO (Digital Marketing Exposition Conference). To support the effort, we’ve been working with a company in Germany on an experimental multi-touch device named dreaMTouch. Once we figured out how to get the pre-release device through customs, we were able to integrate the hardware with the Microsoft-based Razorfish Touch Framework in under a day. Since integrating with the hardware was so easy, we decided to feature the Razorfashion application during the conference as well.

At the 2009 Razorfish Client Summit, the Emerging Experiences group announced the availability of the Razorfish Touch Framework. This framework allows for rapid development of rich and engaging touch-based experiences. These experiences can be deployed across a variety of hardware platforms allowing for re-use of code and content.

We have been using the framework on a number of confidential client projects and internal prototypes since early 2009. For the client summit, we were given the opportunity to create a touch experience, we named “Razorfashion,” using the framework and targeted the experience towards the fashion industry. This application is an easily customizable and deployable fashion retail solution which also serves to demonstrate the capabilities of the framework to the public. Be sure to check out the video of the Razorfashion experience. Check back soon for videos and posts about our other cross-platform, multi-touch experiences.

The Razorfish Touch Framework runs on Windows XP and Vista – there is no need to wait for the availability of native multi-touch support in Windows 7. The framework is built on Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and provides a core set of touch-enabled controls to jump-start touch-based application development. The complexities of interfacing with specific touch hardware platforms is handled by the framework, allowing the designers and developers to focus on creating rich, engaging next-generation touch experiences.

The following platforms are currently supported:

• Microsoft Surface
• NextWindow
• N-trig
• Single-touch (Elo, single-touch capacitive, mouse & HID-based hardware)
• TUIO-based custom multi-touch hardware (touch wall, table top)
• Multi-point “touchless” platforms

The cross-platform support of the framework is an industry first. Stay tuned for future videos and posts showing the framework in action.

model photo credit: *katanaz-stock