Surface Scenarios
I often hear of scenarios targeting the Surface unit that I think are actually appropriate for any multi-touch device. My view of Surface is that its optimum scenarios include object recognition and collaboration.
So, if an object such as a mobile phone or an identity card is dropped on a Surface unit, the software on Surface can interact with it. For example, using an identity card to identify and authenticate me before being allowed to use an application.
Another scenario is the support for multiple people to use the same application and device to collaborate. A good example here is if a sales consultant is working on configuring a car with a customer. Both parties can interact with the visual of the car and add different options to see how it looks.
As an aside, it's these scenarios that both designers and developers have to pay particular attention to when thinking about the design and the user interaction of their software for Surface. Primarily because these are capabilities and use cases that are generally new. For example, if multiple people are using the same application on the same device there is an opportunity for one user to impact the other users experience.
For me multi-touch is incredibly interesting, but something that other devices and platforms can support.
