Forget about machines getting ever smaller and more portable, Microsoft have reinvented the computer as a piece of intelligent furniture. Yesterday, it unveiled Surface, a coffee table that would look smart in the living room but also has a high-tech computer embedded into the tabletop.

Doing away with the need for a keyboard or mouse, the techno table instead operates using a 30in touch-sensitive screen that responds to users as they poke, prod and brush their fingertips across the table’s surface.

The table is also able to react to objects placed on top of it. For example, if a digital camera is placed on the tabletop, photos would automatically appear on the screen. People could look and sort through them as though they were physical prints. If a mobile phone is then placed on the screen, copies of the photos would automatically appear on the mobile as well.

The new device was launched in the UK today. Microsoft says that the touchscreen will be able "interact with digital content the same way they have interacted with everyday items such as photos, paintbrushes and music their entire lives: with hands, with gestures and by putting real-world objects on the surface".

This is part of Microsoft’s vision of a digital home where other furniture and household fittings can respond to a person’s voice or touch.

Microsoft’s predictions on the future “revolutionary” products have not always done well. Zune, its digital music player, has been comprehensively outsold by Apple’s iPod, and the launch of a touchscreen “tablet” computer a few years ago was also a commercial failure. By contrast, its Xbox video games console have sold well.

Unfortunately for those who think it would look good in front of their sofas, people will not be able to find it in an Ikea just yet. The computers cost about £8,500 and are being sold to businesses only at the moment.

A Microsoft representative said: “Even at this price there would be some people who may want to get one of these already. So I don’t think a version for the home will be too far away.”

They will appear in communal areas such as shops, hotels and pubs first, allowing the public to get used to the new technology. One cheap enough for the home is still a few years away.

The table works by using five cameras that can sense nearby objects that are mounted beneath the screen. All the wiring and digital guts of the computer are hidden in table’s pedestal, and it connects to the internet wirelessly through wi-fi.

Unlike traditional computers, where only one person can use it at a time, Surface is a “multi-touch” system, which means different people can use the screen at the same time. This would be useful in store if different people wanted to operate the machine at the same time or if two people wanted to work together on the same task.

“A lot of devices that have come out in the past are for individual use,” Philippa Snare, from Microsoft UK, said. “This is about being social. Instead of your kids sitting with laptops in front of TV screens, everyone in the family could use this together.”

At today’s launch, companies such as Tesco and Carphone Warehouse showed off how it would be used as an information kiosk in store. The surface would be able to work out from a barcode what a product was and provide customers with more information on it.

Hotels in the US have already used the device as a concierge service, recommending shops, restaurants and local sights, and then with a flick of the finger providing detailed maps on how to get to those places. It is also thought that it will be used to play games in pubs and clubs.

Explore Tech & Web

• Personal Tech

• The Web

• Gadgets & Gaming