I think it’s safe to say that Microsoft completely blew out their keynote this year. Not only was CEO Steve Ballmer full of energy, but the “host of the event”, Ryan Seacrest, did a great job of moving the presentation right along. Here’s what happened:

Windows Phone

Ballmer started off by critisizing the other phone makers by saying that “other phones have a sea of apps… Windows phone puts the people first.”

After the demo of some Windows Phone devices, Ballmer wen into explaining the software and hardware of Windows phone.

In the way of software, Windows Phone allows you to put your contacts into groups of people and will display the ”people you care about.” He also noted that, unlike their competitors, who use propreitary messaging services like iChat, Windows phone uses Facebook chat and Live Messaging to chat with your friends. And if you friends are offline, you can continue the conversation over text messaging.

He announced that the two main companies coming out with Windows Phones this week are Nokia (As he pronounced Nuu-kia) and HTC.

Windows PC

With already 1.3 billion Windows PCs in use around the world, Ballmer was very excited to announce Windows 8, the new OS that will be compatible with all Windows 7 computers and will feature their Metro layout.

Windows 8 will feature deep app intergration. The idea around this OS is simple: More apps will bring a better experince.

Another nice feature is that online video will be in HTML5 and the OS will use hardware acceleration to  improve playback quality.

A Beta release is set for early February.

XBox

Well boy was I wrong

Here comes a new xbox. #CES2012 #MSFTCES

— Stephen Perkins (@Stephen_Perkins) January 10, 2012

The meat and bones of the new xbox software will be, once again, the metro layout that will put the most important content up front.

Microsoft’s main goal for the new xbox software is to make it more interactive. They also hope to make Kinect more widely used onnot just the xbox, but also PCs.

In addition to the software update, Microsoft announced a partnership with Verizon’s Fios and multiple Newscorp properties to bring the latest TV-based content directly to your xbox console.