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Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet

By | April 29, 2010, 1:46pm PDT

Summary: Microsoft has decided to cancel Courier — the next-generation tablet that was in incubation at the company. Pieces of the Courier project still may materialize in other Microsoft products at some point, but there are no concrete plans to that effect, Microsoft officials said on April 29.

Microsoft has decided to cancel Courier — the next-generation tablet that was in incubation at the company.

On April 29, Gizmodo was the first to report Microsoft’s decision. Corporate Vice President Frank Shaw gave me the same statement he gave to Giz:

“At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.”

I’m kind of surprised at the timing, given Microsoft recently confirmed to The New York Times what I’d been hearing for the past few months: That Courier was on track to hit the market in 2011+. Word is the decision to nix Courier happened in the past week or so.

Courier was going to be a kind of “Franklin Covey planner on steroids,” according to early mock-ups of the product. Supposedly, Chief Experience Officer J Allard was the main mover and shaker behind the Courier project.

Courier was an incubation project, meaning it was closer to being commercialized than a Microsoft Research project, but not yet actually in the production pipeline.

Microsoft has had — and continues to have — a number of incubation projects active at any given time. The Midori operating system project is another incubation project at the company. NetDocs — Microsoft’s precursor to Office Web Apps, which the company decided to kill in the early 2000’s — was another.

I’m still expecting Microsoft to commercialize some of the technologies that comprised Courier at some point. Maybe they’ll show up as part of the Windows 8 or Windows 9 operating system. Who knows…

Microsoft is not commenting on why the company decided to eliminate the Courier incubation. Theories, anyone?

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Topics

Microsoft Corp., Courier, Tablets, Microsoft Windows, Notebooks, Operating Systems, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
High-quality to lv ******** on sale get likely to your weblog when once more, it has been months for me. Appropriately this submitting that i've been waited for so intensive.
View in thread
0 Votes
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HP's purchase of Palm a factor?
tcooper185@... 29th Apr 2010
The timing is probably coincidental, but you gotta
wonder if Microsoft is punishing HP for buying
Palm by cancelling this.

Then again, if Courier failed, cancelling this now
could actually help HP. It certainly takes one
competitor to a webOS tablet out of the picture.
0 Votes
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Courier never looked promising
LBiege 29th Apr 2010
Don't know why they designed it to be foldable.
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I like the idea
John Zern 29th Apr 2010
makes it smaller for travel, while better screen protection (panels folding face to face).
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They do have the tools to make better tablets now
LBiege 29th Apr 2010
It could be powered by Win7, WinCE7 or SilverLight 4 for their future tablets. The later two are probably better choices.
0 Votes
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How does this punish HP?
Bruizer 29th Apr 2010
When it was a MS product.

Likewise, projects are seldom canceled with only a single days thought.
0 Votes
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Contributr
HP connection?
Mary Jo Foley 29th Apr 2010
Hi. I think Bruizer is right... MS couldn't/wouldn't react this fast to HP/Palm this way...

I also think MS was probably thinking about "making" Courier itself, the same way it "makes" the Xbox and Zune -- especially given that J Allard was supposedly spearheading the Courier project (like he did Xbox and Zune)... Just a pure guess on that part, though... MJ
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UH, Microsoft was to make (head) Courier. HP has their own tablet.
The Danger is Microsoft Updated - 29th Apr 2010
Nice try. The only one to blame is Microsoft (unless you blame Apple for having such a hugely successful iPad!).

Oh, but wait. The HP Slate has been pulled out of production. Guess that was vapor too!

So much for the iPad killers!
0 Votes
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Punishing HP?
theo_durcan 30th Apr 2010
Your partner reveal plans to develop their own tablet, so you drop your own offering? And you are supposed to punish them exiting the market?

I wonder if they still teach logic at school...
0 Votes
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tablet-netbook = i-pad-killer
kikl 2nd May 2010
I think microsoft and HP are beginning to understand that the real tablet-pc of the future are already on the markte. This is what they look like: http://www.gadgetvenue.com/acer-aspire-timeline-1820ptz-ready-preorder-12104533/

They are called tablet-netbooks. They combine the portability, touchpad and battery life of the i-pad, with the advantages of a true netbook: in-built, camera, an upright and adjustable screen, interfaces USB, VGA, LAN, WLAN, Bluetooth, HDMI, exchangeable battery, upgradeable RAM, freedom to install any application....
0 Votes
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If people are gravitating towards flat panel pads
John Zern 29th Apr 2010
as opposed to one that flips open (IMHO, a safer design in terms of screen protection), then that's the way to go.

The cost would likely be more, and it's a pretty competative market, so sometime a superior design has to be put to the side in order to produce a competative model.

It's a shame, as a 9" screen that could fold into a 4.5 size is a nice idea, while protecting the screens much better then one constantly exposed to outside accidents.
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
Loverock Davidson 29th Apr 2010
That sucks, I really liked the Courier concept. It had such great potential. We can only hope that they take the concept and work on a "Courier 2.0". That thing would have sold millions had they released it.
0 Votes
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What would you do with a 999,900 Couriers?
Bruizer 29th Apr 2010
Just wondering.
0 Votes
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Sell them!
Loverock Davidson 29th Apr 2010
and they would go like hotcakes.
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Maybe they would...
Great Kahuna 29th Apr 2010
provided you priced them as hotcakes.
0 Votes
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If MS could not sell them, how would you?
Bruizer 29th Apr 2010
The Courier, as demonstrated, had many serious flaws in its gestures
making the device:

1) Purely a work of fiction released as a red-herring to counter the iPad.

2) Gestures that were so nuanced the device would be almost impossible
to use.

If 1, it is academic. They don't (or ever would) exist.

If 2, then no one would want one.
0 Votes
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but ...
banned from zdnet again and again 29th Apr 2010
... you understand that it is a looooooooooong way from a few fancy
concept videos to an actual product, dontya?
0 Votes
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Yes I do
Loverock Davidson 29th Apr 2010
But the concept was awesome. I guess we'll never know why they did it.
0 Votes
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The concept may have been awesome but that's not enough
Great Kahuna 29th Apr 2010
You need execution to support the concept and execution is an area where Microsoft tends to fall short. The dog-eat-dog culture, internal politics (remember, today's Microsoft is, above all a legal powerhouse) all that concurs to destroy all efforts to actually do something.
0 Votes
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Congratulations
Viva la crank dodo 30th Apr 2010
You took the first step.

Admitting you don't know.

Next step is to realize the scope of things you don't know, yet tend to comment on anyways.
  • Flagged
0 Votes
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The first iPad killer to formally die. (nt)
Bruizer 29th Apr 2010
nt
0 Votes
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Contributr
iPad killer
Mary Jo Foley 29th Apr 2010
Hi. I know some folks see this as an iPad competitor. But I actually thought of Courier (based on leaks of marketing videos, photos and info) as something that surpassed the iPad and was more about creating content. I also think the reception of the iPad has nothing to do with MS' decision to nix Courier.

Just my guess, but I'd say internal poltics and cost-cutting were probably bigger factors in Courier's demise... More on the politics part here: http://bit.ly/aFPsGB

MJ
0 Votes
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sure, cost cutting ...
banned from zdnet again and again 29th Apr 2010
ms just made 4 bn in profits, so they desperately need some cost cutting
... sure.

and the ipad is only about consuming content, save the already hundreds
of apps for working and creating all kinds of content.

the FUD just never stops.
0 Votes
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I agree. The losers just can't admit defeat. (NT)
The Danger is Microsoft 29th Apr 2010
NT
0 Votes
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You never do everytime you are
GuidingLight 29th Apr 2010
"slapped down" to another loss, so why should anyone else? happy
0 Votes
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As much could be said for you too... [nt]
zkiwi 30th Apr 2010
0 Votes
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Are you serious, Mary Jo???
Userama 29th Apr 2010
I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe that the iPad launch didn't affect
this decision. I believe the iPad demonstrated dramatically that the
largest market demand (and economic return) is for a device that
provides content consumption, not content creation. That said, I do
wish the iPad were a mite bit heavier on creation apps, but feel
confident that those will come with time. The iWork apps are a start,
although kind of an anemic one.

However, as a user of both the iPad and a laptop, I've concluded that
the tablet format is great for consumption, but not so great for
creation. The "heavy lifting" works a lot better on laptops or desktops.
Since the world has been exposed to the iPad, it seems to have become
common wisdom that a "mobile" OS makes a lot more sense for a small
tablet device (as HP's interest in Palm's webOS confirms). I think that
realization may have sunk into the execs at Microsoft also, and made
them rethink the path they were on. It'll be interesting to see where
they go from here.
0 Votes
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The Courier was never anything more than concept.
Bruizer 30th Apr 2010
Even the videos showed gross issues with an interface that would never
work. There were over a dozen genstures that did different actions when
performed the same way under the same conditions.

Yes, the Courier was a cool concept but that is all it ever was. I would
sooner bet the project was canceled after spending loads of cash and
only getting a concept videos to show for the work.
0 Votes
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Also...
WarhavenSC 30th Apr 2010
...compare the feature set of the iPhone from a year ago to that of the leaked iPhone and OS 4.0 that's coming out very soon. The media was already comparing iPad to Courier because enough features overlapped with iPad to do so. So, consider what the iPad will likely have a year from now (given the current trend of feature additions to the iPhone). You can bet your bottom dollar that Jobs would be cramming more stuff into the iPad (in the usual elegant way) to make it even more competitive to the Courier, which by that time, would seem just ho hum.

Sadly, I think MS did the right thing. The only way the Courier would have really been competitive is if it were ready today, not a year from now. A lot happens in a year with tech, and a 2011+ release date is just too long, and would be too costly for MS. The iPad will have an iron grip on that sort of market by then, and the Courier, while on paper is pretty awesome today, wouldn't seem so special a year from now.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
g_keramidas@... 29th Apr 2010
not saying this would have been the greatest device, but who knows, and now they never will. for example, windows phone 7 should be out now, not in 4-6 months. they're late to the party. by the time they realize something should be in the marketplace, they're months behind. i have no idea what they're thinking. Then, in a year or so, they'll re-introduce the courier concept and be late again.
0 Votes
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oops, told ya so
banned from zdnet again and again 29th Apr 2010
after the windows 7 hp slate, the next vaporware ipad killer
implodes.

ah, it must be really horrible to be an apple hater these days
...
0 Votes
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How so?
Great Kahuna Updated - 29th Apr 2010
With Steve Jobs giving you so many good reasons to hate Apple life has never been easier on Apple haters.
0 Votes
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Never been easier for Apple haters to become increasingly jealous! (NT)
The Danger is Microsoft 29th Apr 2010
NT
0 Votes
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But that would not be hate, now would it?
Great Kahuna 30th Apr 2010
That would be jealousy.

I'm talking about real haters, people who look at Apple with nothing but contempt.

There are quite a few people who on philosophical grounds strongly disapprove Steve Jobs' actions. Did you know that?

You can bet that none of those people is feeling jealous of Apple. They are as much jealous of Apple as a Muslim is jealous of your bacon.
0 Votes
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Arrington @TechCrunch says HP has killed Slate, too.
matthew_maurice 29th Apr 2010
At least all the clouds in the mobile computing space are clearing.
0 Votes
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The dilemma
Joe_Raby 29th Apr 2010
Microsoft has put a lot of effort into designing Metro, but Courier doesn't fit and I'd imagine that they want it to, since that's the direction most of their products are heading, given that Metro has a timeless look. Office will eventually carry a UI that's similar to those Office 2019 videos, but so far, Metro is based around content consumption and presentation.

How do you feasibly turn Metro into a content creation UI within such a short timeframe compared to the release of the next big Metro splash - Windows Phone 7? It's not as easy as it sounds, and if Courier was due for a 2011 release date, it would look dated when released. Where would the Courier UI fit within Microsoft's Metro UI vision? And it's not like Metro adapts itself well to stylus input, being that Metro is designed around typography elements.

It was a good idea, but it's both too soon, and too late. Too soon for a market that doesn't understand tablet and pen computing (and maybe never will), and too late that it won't fit within Microsoft's new direction of text-based UI conventions.
0 Votes
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Excuses, excuses! (NT)
The Danger is Microsoft 29th Apr 2010
NT
0 Votes
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delete
Bruizer Updated - 29th Apr 2010
delete
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
magictesla 29th Apr 2010
This is the product Microsoft should develop...

Microsoft Method All-in-One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1FLyBY-Pso

features a self-adjusting stand and touch screen that allows for immersive surface, digital draft board, 3D TV, gaming, PC and web experiences.
0 Votes
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Kin borrows from Courier?
Joe_Raby 29th Apr 2010
Take a look at the Courier videos where a picture is "tucked" into the center of the two screens. The image is tilted while tucked. Seems awfully similar to the way images appear when you copy them into the Kin Spot.
0 Votes
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Hmmm...anyone still want to say it was not Vaporwarez?
The Danger is Microsoft 29th Apr 2010
MS only did what, made a fake video (like they did in the Antitrust lawsuit with the US goverment) to try to pull some buyers away from the iPad.

So, guess it WAS Vapor...it won't be there except in the smoke and mirrors Microsoft threw in folks faces!
0 Votes
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Its a lie...
x21x 29th Apr 2010
The product could be better then the ipod, and they are trying to act like it doesn't exist anymore while they secretly finish it and release it apple style. It probably has to do with HP also because HP is one of their key partners for hardware, if HP has a software OS that is going to do be able to do the same type of thing? Then they need to start brining hardware in house and stop telling people about their stuff.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
Spade_Espada 29th Apr 2010
The Courier would of crushed the ipad. Its a better design, the base features more than match any apps available at app stores. Even thou it is not out yet its design is familiar - we all use books, also left or writing systems would work equally well. Being left handed the dual screen set up would make it infinity convenient. The killer app for this product would be Google wave. A Courier with a plug-in pico projector would create countless presentation possibilities. Killing this project is a huge mistake.
0 Votes
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Coulda, woulda, shoulda!
matthew_maurice 29th Apr 2010
{nt}
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
spc1972 29th Apr 2010
Let's not get too carried away here. Microsoft has a track record of following where others lead. Should the juggernaut
sales of iPads continue then Microsoft will be compelled to enter the market. I suspect many of the ideas exhibited in Courier will make their way into some iPad like device running a variant of Windows Phone 7. I'm sure Microsoft will have looked at it and decided that developing an additional O/S based (presumably on Windows CE) for a single form-factor was never going to be successful. The Courier video conveyed a way of organising information and working with data often associated with that found in a smartphone (agenda, contacts, notes). Watching the video of Courier, I always felt it was missing crucial obvious things like Office or more importantly, OneNote. I'm sure we'll see a new Windows Phone 7 chassis specification not dissimilar to the iPad that will use the Windows Phone 7 Office suite and deliver much that we saw in the Courier video albeit on a single tablet screen.

I'd also hazard a guess that this product (i.e. based on WP7) could probably come to market *quicker* than a dedicated product like Courier. Let's face it, the likes of Dell, HP, Acer will fall over themselves to put a hardware product out there if the iPad continues to sell as it is.
0 Votes
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It kind of makes sense to me
P. Douglas 29th Apr 2010
I think MS should come out with a tablet based on Windows Phone 7's OS, that includes many of the Courier concepts. After MS comes out with a regular tablet, maybe it can work on coming out with a dual screen device. The Courier had some really neat concepts, but it seemed too limited. It is much better MS comes out with a much more general purpose device that is capable of running many, many thousands of different applications; has a virtual keyboard; but also has Courier's rich support for pen input - along with the 'infinite journal'.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
tre4bax 30th Apr 2010
Its Interesting that Microsoft do this a week after
Apples boss essentially rubbished the use of a stylus.
Is Microsoft responding unduly to his influence, seems
like it doesn't it.

Microsoft is acting like a company that is not sure of
itself any more. It feels like it has become
largely reactive, mirroring its rivals rather than
plowing its own furrow. Courier was the first time
I've seen something new for a long while (the iPad
certainly isn't new it's a big iPod touch!) I'm
saddened Microsoft is no longer confident enough to
follow through. Even more because our business can
see more use for an iPad style future than a windows 9
one!

Lets just hope they don't cancel Natal, at least that
demonstrates a little spark, even if they did just
buy it in.
0 Votes
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Ouch... That's sad news...
Mantvis 30th Apr 2010
Courier looked so promising... It's very sad, they're dropping it. Hopefully, those ideas will transform to something tangible in some other product.
0 Votes
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1 tablet expensive, two tablets out of reach
sparkle farkle 30th Apr 2010
ns
0 Votes
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MS doesn't make tablets, it was just a test.
No_Ax_to_Grind 30th Apr 2010
Maybe a manufacture will run with it, maybe not but in either case MS isn't a tablet builder.
0 Votes
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Good!
rjohn05 Updated - 30th Apr 2010
I am glad the canceled this project. It looked cool but there really did not seem to be much use for it. They need to create a tablet based on the windows phone os with metro UI. I have a feeling that may be what they are doing.

Perhaps HP got wind of this and decided not to waste any more time on the HP WIN7 Slate.

Just a guess...
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft nixes plans for its dual-screen Courier tablet
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
High-quality to lv ******** on sale get likely to your weblog when once more, it has been months for me. Appropriately this submitting that i've been waited for so intensive.

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