Microsoft aborts Courier tablet prototype
Microsoft has abandoned its free push into the tablet market with a product which, on paper at least, looked better than the Ipad.
“At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity,” said Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of communications at Microsoft, in a statement. “The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.”
The dual-screen Courier tablet was one of the more intriguing ideas to come from the company in the past decade, but for some reason the Vole does not plan to bring it to market.
According to published reports from Gizmodo, Microsoft stopped production its planned double-screen tablet that had some industry watchers excited about its potential to increase competition in the tablet market. Courier, along with the HP Slate running Windows 7, the Dell Streak running Google’s Android OS and Lenovo’s IdeaPad U1, had industry watchers projecting that competitive offerings would bring down the cost of Apple’s iPad.
Expected in the second half of this year, Courier was reportedly formatted in the shape of a book with two 7-inch screens, a built-in camera and Wi-Fi, according to published reports. The device also was said to support a variety of user inputs such as touching, handwriting and drawing.
Microsoft was positioning the device as a digital journal that featured both pen-based and multitouch interfaces, and it would have also made a compelling e-reader product as well in a market the company has yet to dive into.
It is not clear what Microsoft is thinking. It appears to be surrendering the ground to Apple. Either it thinks that the Ipad will die, which is what it thought would happen with the Internet, or it just can’t be arsed.
