One of the few announcements Microsoft made at CES this year was that Kinect for Windows will be available from February 1st, in the US at least, for a hefty price tag of $250. As part of this announcements Microsoft also revealed that quite a few major companies are readying software to work with Kinect on Windows. This may be a topic at the forefront of some upcoming computer classes.

I am really looking forward to what crazy things we will be able to do with our PCs once Kinect for Windows is released, however, I have no plans to buy the Kinect for Windows device. That’s crazy talk, it’s just too expensive. I suppose if there are number of high quality and very useful apps released I could be tempted but I don’t see myself buying this.

Which gets me thinking; if I am reluctant to buy a Microsoft then what about people who aren’t all that interested in Microsoft. Seems to me like it will be a pretty hard sell. There have been no ads for Kinect for Windows and there is certainly no real buzz about it online but if Microsoft want this to sell well then this is the kind of things they need.

I therefore wonder if Microsoft don’t want this to be a consumer device at the minute but more a tool to get developers to build great apps for Windows that make use of Kinect. Developers are going to be more interested in Kinect for Windows than the vast majority of consumer and with such a high price tag most consumers aren’t going to be interested. Obviously developers could use the Kinect for Xbox device but obviously that’s for the Xbox and therefore perhaps not all that reliable for testing PC apps.

To me February seems like a weird time of year to release Kinect for Windows, surely late November would have made more sense. Again it suggests to me that Microsoft isn’t positioning Kinect for Windows as a must have consumer device yet. However, what would make sense is if Microsoft want is releasing the Kinect for Windows hardware in February because its the same month that the Windows Store is being opened and Windows 8 beta will be released. It has long been rumoured that Windows 8 will have Kinect support baked in.

What if Microsoft wants developers to start making Kinect apps for Windows 8’s new Metro interface. Also what if Microsoft wants beta testers to go out and buy Kinect for Windows to look for bugs in the way it is integrated with Windows 8.

If you are interested you can read my thoughts about Microsoft at CES this year over on Liveside.