Microsoft targets big business with Kinect

Microsoft is turning the depth and motion sensing eye of Kinect to commercial tasks, having unveiled a new program designed to engage big business with new uses for the hands-free controller.

Whilst the company has made no secret of the broad purview it sees Kinect possessing, this is the first official confirmation of an initiative which has already signed up over 200 businesses and 20 major brands, including car manufacturer Toyota, reports Kotaku.

Currently, most of the businesses involved are keeping their plans for the device tightly under wraps, but suggested uses for Kinect have included virtual dressing rooms for clothing stores, UI solutions and customer reaction gauging for information points.

"We've had a skunk-works team working with some of these partners for awhile," said David Dennis, group program manager at Microsoft. "Today we're lifting the veil of secrecy off of that program."

Microsoft has already released an SDK for Kinect which runs in Windows, actively encouraging users to develop new uses for the technology.

Feedback from users of the system, as well as from engineers who have hacked or reverse engineered the technology, have also resulted in a reduction in response lag for the device.