Steve Ballmer talks Kinect at Microsoft’s last CES show

Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect technology would be available for Windows PCs in a few weeks and would be used in many other applications apart from gaming, CEO Steve Ballmer said at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas yesterday.

Ballmer shared the stage with actor Ryan Seacrest who helped host the event, which was also the company's last keynote at CES.

However, Microsoft founder Bill Gates did not turn up at the event, as some had expected he would in a surprise appearance.

Also there was nothing by way of big news which served as a reminder of why Microsoft had decided to give up the CES stage.

Ballmer announced that Nokia's Lumia 800 Windows Phone would start selling  at Microsoft's retail stores in the US "in the next few months".

He added, the phone would be sold unlocked, meaning Microsoft had not signed a contract with a wireless carrier to offer it.