Microsoft is preparing to mass-produce massive touch-screens

Microsoft is full of surprises these days. Two years after it bought large-touchscreen company Perceptive Pixel (PPI), it will start to productize the technology under the Microsoft brand. Steven Elop, Microsoft’s VP of devices, dropped the news at a partner conference in Australia Wednesday. Part of the delay in bringing the screens to market might be their high price tag. PPI originally sold them for $75,000. Microsoft has said it’s trying to work out ways to bring the price down.

Microsoft officials haven’t said a whole lot about Perceptive Pixel, the large-screen touch display maker Microsoft bought back in 2012. But Perceptive Pixel (PPI) may soon get more visibility in the Microsoft product line-up. Stephen Elop, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Devices, told attendees of Microsoft’s Australian Partner Conference on September 2 that Microsoft was gearing up to “mass produce” PPI displays. That report comes via The Australian, which reported on Elop’s remarks at the conference. (One of my Twitter contacts, @walksm8, confirmed Elop’s PPI comments.) Microsoft purchased PPI in July 2012 for an undisclosed amount. PPI’s large-screen touch displays originally sold in the $80,000 range. But Microsoft execs said they were exploring ways to make the displays more affordable. (The 55-inch PPI flat-panel display currently sells for about $7,500 via various retailers/resellers.)