Pumped (Premium)

Panos Panay once said that Microsoft Surface would “bring the thunder.” This week, he fulfilled that promise in a dramatic expansion of the product line. In doing so, he sent a message: Surface isn’t just here to stay. It’s poised for the future as well.

There’s a lot to discuss.

So let’s start at the beginning. It’s sometime between 9 am and 10 am on Wednesday morning, and the reporters, bloggers, and other media who arrived before 9 have been allowed in the building where the Microsoft event will be held, but not inside the event room itself. So we’re mingling. I’ve just pronounced that Microsoft could announce a phone this morning, which is based on nothing more than the fact that I knew Microsoft was working on a phone; I had no idea that it was dual-screen or that it would definitely happen that day. And then Microsoft’s Panos Panay and Yusuf Mehdi entered the room, performing what I called “the perp walk,” saying hello to the media as they walked through.

In this case, the term seemed particularly apropos: Panos, normally jubilant and, well, pumped on the morning of Surface announcements was weirdly subdued, almost mopey. In what I’m sure was a breach of protocol, I actually put my hand on his shoulder and asked him if he was OK. He seemed confused by the question, so I told him that he was usually almost jittery with excitement when I saw him before these events. He smiled, said he’d be fine, greeted a few others and moved on.

The group of us exchanged puzzled glances. But it wasn’t the only weird omen that morning. Steven Bathiche, normally one of the happiest guys I’ve ever seen, had blown by the media earlier, and he hadn’t stopped to chat. He didn’t look glum, he looked pissed. Steven Bathiche never looks pissed. Again, weird.

Had the leaks spoiled the morning for the Surface team? Were they going to under-deliver on what we had collectively heard, perhaps, not even pre-announce Windows 10X and the “Centaurus” dual-screen device as a result? Would this event seem weak if all they had were mostly evolutionary updates to existing products?

Also alarming, Microsoft had invited “fans” to the event as a cheering section in the audience. I was told that the goal wasn’t to mimic the rally-like experience that occurs at Apple’s so-called press events. But that’s exactly what happened. In fact, it was worse: They applauded, and far too loudly, for truly innocuous statements and announcements. It ruined the event, interrupting the flow, if you will, for everyone. I bet it doesn’t happen again. Or if it does, that these well-meaning fools are instructed to rein it in next time.

(I was also told that Panos wanted to look out at a crowd of eager, expectant people, not reporters and bloggers with their faces buried in their laptops, typing.)

We were told upfront that the event would be bookended by Satya Nadella, a reminder that it was important to Microsoft and would...